Oleander
by Hamilcar
Summary: All Petunia had ever wanted was to be considered special, like her sister Lily was - and Magneto's Brotherhood considered her very special indeed.
1. Just a Poor Boy

When the owls came swooping into the Great Hall, Lily did not think much of the fact that one was carrying a letter from her parents. They often wrote her, so it was not out of the unusual. However, when she opened the letter, the contents were far from the usual missives they sent, telling her of neighborhood events and family happenings.

She dropped the letter as though it was a Howler and a sob escaped her. Two tables over, the ears of a Slytherin boy picked up at the sound.

"Lily?" He jumped up and ran to the other table, despite the stares he got from the members of his own house.

He saw her crying and lightly touched her back. He knew her parents had been feeling ill of late, but he had thought it was only a slight flue, nothing serious, and certainly nothing unexpected given that it was the winter season. He felt a sudden stab of worry that something had happened to them, as they were some of the few adults back home who treated him with any kindness.

"Lily, what's the matter?"

"Yeah, Lily, what is it?" Mary asked, the Gryffindor girls around her pressing close.

"It's my sister Petunia. She… she's…" She lifted up the letter to Severus. "She's _gone_."

"Gone?" He frowned. "What do you mean, gone?"

Her weeping had started in earnest, however, so he read the letter instead while Mary wrapped her arms around her.

_Lily, _

_I am not sure how to tell you this, but you must know. Last night, Petunia left her bed and never came home. We do not know where she is, if she ran away or was kidnapped. The police have come and are looking into it. So far they tracked her footsteps, and potentially those of another person, to that old playground you used to go to, but the steps suddenly vanished. There are no other leads for now but we will let you know the very moment we hear something. Stay safe. And if you think of anything that might help find her, please let us know. _

_Love, _

_Mum and Dad_

Severus looked up at Lily, red eyed and sobbing.

"I did this to her," she whispered. "I drove her away."

"Lily, don't think that!" He admonished.

"You're the kindest witch I know!" Remus Lupin added from across the table.

"He's right!" Mary agreed.

Lily stood. "I… I need to be alone."

She ran from the Great Hall, leaving the other students to stare after her. McGonagall swept over.

"What has happened to Ms. Evans?" She looked at them sharply.

"It's her sister." Severus held out the letter and McGonagall's breath drew in sharply when she read it.

"I see." Her eyes pierced Severus. "Do you know where in the castle our Ms. Evans may have gone?"

He thought for a moment. "Probably the library. Nobody would be there this time of morning. If she wants to be alone, it would provide solitude."

"Very well then."

She swept out of the hall, leaving the Gryffindor table to fall into hushed, rapid discussion about what had just happened. Severus retreated to his own table, though he had little taste for breakfast left. He was unenthusiastically scraping the leftover bits of oatmeal out of the bowl when McGonagall returned and approached him.

"She is asking for you."

He stood and followed without question to the office of the headmaster. Lily was curled up in a chair in front of Dumbledore's desk. She turned her eyes to see Severus entering and he saw at once that her cheeks were streaked with tears.

"Mister Snape." Dumbledore inclined his head towards him. "Thank you for responding. After some discussion, we have concluded that Ms. Evans should leave for the winter break early this semester, in order to be with her family at this trying time. She has requested that you accompany her, as a friend of the family."

"Of course!" Severus blurted, blushing at the thought that she had chosen him.

"Thanks Sev," she whispered.

"Thank you. A coach will be provided that will take you to her home this evening." Dumbledore stepped out from behind the desk and put his hand on Lily's shoulder in an attempt to comfort her. "You have my sympathy Ms. Evans. And have heart. The matter may turn out well yet."

She didn't say anything and silence filled the spaces between them until Severus coughed.

"If we are leaving tonight, we should pack."

"Yes," McGonagall agreed. "I will go and speak to Professor Slughorn. You will both be excused for your final exams of course."

"Come on, Lil," he whispered.

She said nothing the rest of that day, save for brief bouts of crying. When they were in the thestral-pulled coach, however, she finally broke the silence.

"Sev?"

"Yes Lily?"

"Do you think she's _dead?_" She hesitated on the last word.

He frowned. "I don't know."

"I won't forgive myself if she is. Never."

"Oh Lily," he murmured. "Don't say that. This is not your fault."

"That's what everybody keeps saying."

But he knew from the look on her fact that she did not believe it. She stared out the window, looking at the slow snowfall, anguish written on her features.

"Perhaps she simply needed to get away for a while. When I was under stress… I mean, I think everybody has thought about running away at some point, but many of them do not go very far. Maybe that's all this is. Maybe she'll come home, safe and sound."

"Maybe." She gripped the edge of the cushioned seat. "I hope so."

"I do too," he said and meant it, even if there was no love lost between him and Petunia and he only hoped she was safe for the sake of her sister.

_Six months earlier _

Petunia drew her breath and focused. Slowly the petals of the flower folded in then unfolded, just as her sister had done several years ago. Pausing to refocus, she thought harder and the stem lengthened and leaves sprouted. Feeling a rush, she ran back to the house. Perhaps now she could finally convince her family she was as special as Lily, be allowed to go to the school Lily got to go to.

Her sister was out with that freak boy and Petunia felt no hesitation in going into her room, sure that Lily had done the same to learn of her letter to Dumbledore. The wand was sitting on top of her school trunk and Petunia grasped it, waved, hoping something would happen. But it did not. There were no sparks, no juts of flame. Nothing transformed around her. Whatever she could do, it was not as much as Lily. And she would not be made a fool, begging to Dumbledore a second time.

Bitterly disappointed, she fled back to the park, ignoring her mother's voice scolding her not to slam the door. She sat morosely on the swings, looking at a patch of clover and making it bloom, but realizing she was unable to do much more than that.

"Wonderful," she hissed. "Not only am I a freak, I'm not even a complete one."

"You're not a freak!" A voice came from high up in a tree and she gasp, tumbling off the swing and standing up angrily.

"Who's there?"

A boy poked his head out of the leaves. "I'm sorry. I just… I saw what you did."

She stepped back. "I didn't do anything!"

"No, it's okay!" There was a rustle as he climbed down branches until she could see him. "I know what it's like."

She gasped. His body was contorted into weird angles and his grin was a notch too wide to seem normal.

"I… I'm Morty." He gave her a wave, but she stepped back again. He was unkempt, with his hair falling into his eyes and his skin smudged, he smelled foul, and his clothes looked frayed. When she stepped back, he looked panicked. "You don't have to worry! I won't say anything!" When she remained distant, he dropped a few branches lower. "Look at what I can do!"

His tongue lolled out of his mouth, longer than any human's should, then snapped up and wrapped around a branch, pulling him up.

"That's disgusting!" Petunia screamed and ran away. As soon as she got home, she locked herself in her room and cried. And outside, the vines below her window crept up their trellis.


	2. Whenever This World Is Cruel

Lily stood outside of the door to her house for several minutes, Severus shuffling nervously beside her, breathing clouds into the chilly air, before she finally knocked. Her mother answered the door and it was apparent she had been crying. Immediately, she swept Lily up into a hug.

"Hello dear."

"Hi mum."

"I'm so glad you came," she whispered, then looked at Severus. "And thank you. Lily said you would come also, to be there for her."

"No trouble," he said softly.

"Have they found anything?" Lily asked.

Her mother didn't say anything for a moment. "Come on, dear. We should go inside instead of standing out here, catching pneumonia."

As they went inside, Severus noticed the flowers by the side of the house poking through the snow and couldn't help marveling for a moment that they were still alive. Once inside, the sudden atmosphere of grief wiped all other thoughts from his mind, pressing down on him and Lily both.

"Hello Lily." Her father sat at the table, hands wrapped around a mug of coffee.

"Dad!" She threw her arms around him and he pressed a hand to her forearm. "What happened? Have you heard any more?"

He only shook his head.

"The police were by." Her mother started rummaging in the kitchen, warming up a pot of milk for cocoa. "They tracked her to the park. It wasn't hard because there was snow all over the ground. But when they got to the park they simply stopped."

"Stopped?" Lily sat down in the chair and Severus stood behind her.

"There was a final set of prints and no more. None leaving, none going any further." She pried open the tin of cocoa mix. "It was almost… it was as if…"

"It was as if she flew," Severus completed. "Or was picked up by somebody flying."

Lily looked up at Severus. "Do you think a witch or a wizard took her?"

"We shouldn't eliminate the possibility." He looked at her parents apprehensively. "I don't know how much you have or haven't heard but there is… unpleasantness… happening in some parts of the wizarding world." He frowned. "Though I don't see why Petunia would have been involved."

"Nor do I," his mother sighed, "but it was nothing we could discuss with the police."

"Did you contact the Ministry or any Aurors?"

"Yes. They came shortly after the police." Her father shook his head. "All they would say was that, as far as they could detect, no spell were cast involved."

"That doesn't mean that someone from our world didn't play a part in this," he mused. "Also, I thought the letter said that there were two sets of prints?"

"They can't be sure. The other prints were staggered and lopsided. They didn't leave clear tracks in the snow like hers did, but they vaguely followed her path. The police weren't quite sure what to make of that," her father explained.

"Was there a note? Did anything look out of place?" Lily asked.

"At first it didn't appear so," her mother said, setting down mugs in front of Lily and Severus. "But on closer inspection, many of her clothes were gone. She keeps her room so tidy, with all the shelves closed and everything. Nothing looked strange at first. Her winter coat was gone, though, along with most of her jeans and jumpers."

"So she left. She wasn't taken, she left."

"Lily," Severus said and squeezed her shoulder.

"I can't believe it," she whispered. "I just can't think of why Tuney would do something like this. I know we had fights, but we could have worked it out! I didn't mean anything I said, anything that might have been cruel! I just don't _understand_."

"Neither do we," her mother said ruefully.

"She might have been lured," her father said, sipping his own hot drink. "Sometimes, young ladies…" He shook his head. "I thought Petunia had better sense!"

"Well, let's not jump to conclusions." Lily's mother brushed at her eyes.

"I hope she's okay," Lily whispered, hands wrapped around the mug. "Wherever she is, I hope she's safe and okay." She took a little gulp of cocoa. "I'd give anything just to see her and know she's alright, to let her know I love her."

"I know dear." Her mother took the mug gently away as she finished. "Now why don't you show Severus to the guest room and get some rest? You must be tired from your trip."

"Okay." She started up the steps. "Come on, Sev."

"Will you be alright?" He asked as he took a long shirt for sleeping out of his trunk.

"Yeah," she nodded, though tears still brimmed and belied her statement. "But Sev? Can I ask a favor?"

"Anything Lily."

"Can we look into this ourselves?" She blushed. "I'm sure the police are doing the best they can, but if there's magic involved or if it would help… I know we're not supposed to do any while we're at home, but it's Tuney and I can't just… I feel like I should…"

"Of course Lily." He nodded. "First thing tomorrow."

"Thank you," she said, giving him a broken smile before hurrying off to her own room.

_OOO_

_5 months earlier_

_OOO  
><em>

Petunia had gone to the park the day after, only to be confronted by the same boy. Despite telling him that she was not her sister and therefore had no sympathy for unwashed little delinquents, he continued to pester her. So she shrugged and put up with him, so long as there was nobody else to see.

Over the course of several weeks information gradually spooled out of him. His full name was Mortimer, but he hated it; Morty and Mort were tolerable. He had been as he was from birth and he suspected that was the reason that his parents gave him up. Until a few months ago, he was in an orphanage in Yorkshire, until a particularly violent pummeling at the hands of some other boys prompted him to run away. He was not a wizard and didn't think they existed, so she dropped the subject.

Bored and alienated and more than a little scared of what she might be becoming, Petunia starting telling him about herself as well – her growing distance from her sister, her anger at her parents. She was vague when it came to talking about Lily's powers, since her parents had made it clear that there were serious consequences for doing so. But her resentment was laid bare in fron of him.

Several weeks after they met, she climbed up the tree where he usually hid.

"Why do you always stay up here?" She panted, reaching for another branch.

"Nobody sees me. Quiet. And I like the green."

"You can't stay up here all the time."

"No. I come down at night. Stay in one of the houses down by the river."

"That place is disgusting," she sneered and he looked away. "And it's where that awful boy my sister hangs around with lives.

"Oh," he murmured.

The heard laughing below them and Petunia brushed aside a branch to peek out. She turned back, furiously red. "It's my sister and her stupid little lapdog."

"Really?" Mort peeked out also, carefully and secretively watching the red-head and the raven sitting on the swings, laughing. "That's the boy who said all the stuff to you?"

"Yes. And nearly made a branch fall on me."

"I don't like him." He withdrew into the tree.

"I _hate_ him," Petunia spat. Around them, the leaves flourish, rusting and hiding them further in a leafy cloud of green. "He's a nasty little wanker."

Mort nodded. They waited until they left and then Petunia jumped down. She looked up at the tree, gave a short sharp wave, and then ran off.

That evening, when everything was dark, a figure bounded around a house on Spinner's End, scrabbled up the wall though there was precious little purchase, and spat upon the window. The glass dissolved with a popping acidic hiss and the figure leapt away on the rooftops.

Snape woke up when the draft finally chilled him, surprised. He thought he was past the age of accidental magic and he wondered frantically about how he might hide a demolished window from his father.


	3. To Go Romancing

"Morning, Sev." Lily turned her head to see him come in the kitchen. "Want some cereal?" She dropped her eyes. "Mum usually cooks but she isn't feeling very up to it, I guess."

"That's fine." He got a bowl out of the cabinet and took the box from her.

"Where do you think we should start looking?" She asked as she poured herself some juice.

"Probably her room," he said, putting the milk back and getting a spoon. "Maybe there are hints there about why she left."

"The way mum and dad were talking, it sounded like there wasn't any kind of struggle." She stirred her cereal but didn't take a bite. "They didn't even hear her leave. Dad said that the window was open so the police think she climbed down the trellis, trying not to wake them."

"Really?" Severus frowned. "I do not know her like you do but that seems… unlikely."

"Yeah," she sighed.

He watched her for a moment more. "You should eat," he finally said. "Being hungry will dull your thought processes. Which, I am sure you'll agree, are important if you want to figure out where she might have gone."

Lily looked up and him and then, surprising, giggled. "You have a strange way with words, you know that?" She remarked as she took a bite.

"Well it worked, didn't it?"

When they were finished, they ascended the steps and stopped in from of Petnuia's door.

"I think mum's kept it closed on purpose," Lily whispered. "Looking inside reminds her that she's gone."

Severus nodded and carefully twisted the hand, then closed it softly behind them once they were both inside. Turning, he took in the pink and white décor and wrinkled his nose.

"Does your sister use a lot of perfume? Or scented candles?"

"She does like perfume, but that is really strong, isn't it? Smells like, what, roses maybe?"

"You're asking the wrong person Lily. If it went into a potion, maybe, but all I can say is that it's definitely floral." He shook his head. "But we're getting distracted."

"Do you know what we should look for?" Lily went to her desk and opened the drawers to find nothing but neatly ordered pencils and spiral bound notebooks.

"No idea. Although this is interesting." He bent in front of the bookcase. "It looks like some of the books are missing." He pointed to several gaps in the otherwise neatly arranged books.

"Maybe she took something with her to read?"

"Seems an odd choice for a runaway, but maybe." He took out one of the neighboring books. "Gothic romances?"

Lily shrugged. "Petunia has her tastes." She frowned. "I wonder if the castles and all reminded her of Hogwarts." Starting to tear, she pressed the palm of her hand to her eyes. "She really wanted to go, Sev. More than she let on, I think."

He frowned. "It might have made her susceptible."

"Susceptible? To what?"

"Maybe somebody else found out how much she wanted to be a witch? They might have preyed on that. There are scams all the time promising squibs that they can take a potion or undergo a charm and gain the powers they never developed. Somebody might have promised her something similar."

"I don't really see her telling anybody, though, Sev. I mean, she was pretty mad when we found out about that letter to Dumbledore. I don't think she ever wanted to talk about it after that."

"Just a possibility," he said, moving over to the window. "Is this the window she left from?"

"Yes. Mum said it was open when they walked in to wake her up in the morning."

Severus hefted it open and looked down. "It's very overgrown. I'm surprised she managed to find a handhold on the trellis, between the snow and the vines. It looks rickety too, not at all like it would support a body – not even that of a girl."

"So you're thinking magic, again?" Lily joined him at the window.

"I have to admit, things seem to be adding up in that direction." He looked upwards. "Lily! Look at that." He pointed out the window.

"What? It's just an oak. Been here for ages."

"The branches, though. The snow's been knocked off of a bunch of them, like somebody had been climbing up there."

"I see!"

"That's not all that's strange. Do you notice anything out of the ordinary about that tree?"

"Like what?"

"They're half-buried by the snow, but that tree definitely has leaves." He squinted. "And not brown, dead stragglers either, but green ones." They drew their heads back in and Severus brought the window down. "I don't like this Lily. Something strange is going on here."

"I think you're right," she nodded. "Oh Petunia," she sighed, "what have you gotten yourself into?"

_OOO_

_Four months ago_

_OOO_

He thought she was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen and did not understand how anybody could think her sister more so. Her sister – Lily, Petunia named her – had rust colored hair that made him think of rotted out buildings and dried scabs. Petunia's was sunbleached and fair, like flax and sunshine and brightly gleaming gold. He wanted to stroke it, but felt it would be wrong somehow to sully it with his hands.

Not for the first time he wished he were better looking, somebody tall and dark instead of squat and dirty. He knew what he looked like, felt the shame of it every moment of his life. That she put up with him, that the disgust in her eyes mellowed over the past weeks and months was a mercy for which he was eternally grateful.

Still, he knew that his was only a friend, not enough to catch her fancy. She ascended their tree one day, easier and easier now that she could make the branches shift and help her up, this time bringing a book with her.

"Guess what!" She whispered but did not wait for him to answer. "I'm going to get to meet one of my favorite authors!"

"Really?"

She nodded and thrust the book at him. The cover was of a woman in a deep scarlet dress, neckline plunging, being grasped by a man in a dark shirt, half open, with a backdrop of a crumbling castle and bushes of black roses behind them.

"_The Lord of Blackthorn Hall_," he read from the title.

"It's one of my favorites! And the author, St. John Allerdyce, is at our local bookstore today! Isn't that a romantic name? The same as the character in _Jane Eyre_. I'll bet he looks just like one of his heroes." She took the book back and grasped it to her chest. "I'm going to give it to him to sign."

He smiled for her, trying to be happy that she was happy, but something inside him felt unsettled. Petunia left as quickly as she came, hoping not to be late. Mortimer sighed to watch her leave and did acrobatics on the branches to distract himself from the rotten feeling pooling in the pit of his stomach.

St. John Allerdyce was not altogether what Petunia had expected. He was not dark-haired and pale but tawny and strawberry blond, with a thick Australian accent that didn't sound remotely European or sultry. But when she finally got to go up to the table and see him, their eyes met and she felt as though the wind have been knocked out of her.

"Petunia Evans," she whispered, pushing the book towards him, acutely aware of the blush on her face.

"Petunia! Lovely name," he grinned. "Big fan?"

"I love your books!" She gushed. "I have almost all of them except for some of the older ones that are out of print."

"Well I'm flattered. There ya go." He handed her the book back and their fingers brushed. Petunia felt like she was in heaven and was floating all the way back to her house.

"Remember to set the table for dinner," her mother reminded as she arrived back at the house.

"Yes Mum!" She ran up to her room and realized that, in her excitement, she hadn't even bothered to read what Allerdyce had written. Expecting only a brief 'Thanks for reading' with his name underneath, she opened the cover to the title page and found something quite different.

_Petunia, _

_Glad I got to meet such a unique, special fan like you. In fact, I'd love to get to know you a little better. Come meet me at the coffee shop next to the bookstore and let's have a chat tomorrow morning. _

_St. John Allerdyce _

Her breath caught. He wanted to see her? It seemed an odd thing to ask and Petunia recalled warnings from parents and teachers about men who lured young girls, but she could not help feeling flattered. So much attention was always paid to others, particularly Lily, that to be singled out made her elated.

That night she could barely sleep and the next morning, she dressed and put on her second best summer dress. Taking her bike out, she pedaled to the coffee shop, fast enough to get there quickly but not so fast that she got sweaty. Arranging her hair in the reflection from a window, she went inside and saw him at a table near the back.

"Petunia!" He grinned. "Glad you came."

"I can't believe you wanted to meet me!"

"Well, I do appreciate my fans. And I got you a little something." He passed her a book. "Had a few extras."

"_The Bride of the Moonlit Moor!_" She squealed. "I've looked so hard for that one!"

"Thought you might like it," he said, stirring sugar into his coffee. "Not what I wanted to talk to you about, though."

"Oh?" She felt a little breathless, a little on edge.

He pulled out a lighter and, with a quick glance to be sure nobody was looking, flicked it open. He stared at the flame and it twisted to form into a rose before he snapped the top back down on the lighter. She gasped and he looked directly at her.

"I understand you're a girl of special talents. I want to help you Petunia. I understand what you must be going through. And I work for a man who would like nothing more than to see you develop those talents into something truly prodigious." He leaned back and drank his coffee. "Interested?"

For a moment she was dumbstruck; then she nodded fervently. "Yes! Yes, more than _anything!_"

(A/N: Minor point - for this story, St. John's name is pronounced like "Sinjin" - akin to the Jane Eyre character - rather than "Saint John.")


	4. No Bed of Roses

Lily sat on the edge of Petunia's bed with Severus as they thumbed through her notebooks, hoping to find a hint.

"Nothing but math in this one," Lily sighed.

"This one's a blank too," he said, setting the book aside. "You know," he mused as he picked another up, "I want to say that someone was almost surely in that tree. But if there was somebody who came here, why did she go to the park?"

"That is weird." Lily frowned. "And why climb down? Couldn't a witch or wizard have used some other way?"

"Probably. A portkey maybe. Or just picked her up at the window on a broom. Maybe it wasn't a witch or wizard after all."

"Then what could it be? Oh, here's something!" She held out a page to Severus depicting a large heart with the name St. John Allerdyce in the center. "Mum didn't think she had a boyfriend. Maybe it was a secret boyfriend?"

"It's just a crush."

"How do you know?" Lily pulled the book back, suddenly annoyed.

"That's not the name of anybody she knows," he sighed and pointed at the bookshelf. "It's the name of that author she likes. I recognized it from earlier."

"Oh." Lily dropped the book in her lap, crestfallen. "So basically another dead end."

"It was a good instinct, though," he mollified. "Picking up on a name you didn't recognize."

"I don't know if I would even know if it was important or not, even if she really did know somebody. I don't know the names of her friends anymore, really. She never tells me anything about school or her personal life or anything," she sighed.

"Lily, I told you before, that's not your fault – that was her choice."

"But it doesn't make it any easier to find her."

"Perhaps she doesn't want to be found." He closed the book. "But we can try. This isn't going anywhere though. Might I suggest we trace her to the park before the snow begins to warm and melt?"

"Alright."

Lily got them scarves and coats without asking, guessing that Snape's Muggle wardrobe would be ill prepared for the cold. When they got outside, there was a multitude of prints around the house, from the officers and Lily's parents, Snape guessed. But it was still clear which ones were Petunia's, going from the base of the window to the sidewalk.

"She was in a hurry," he remarked. "These look like she was running."

"From something or to something?"

"I cannot tell."

As they crunched along the sidewalk, following what was left of Petunia's path, Lily tapped Severus' shoulder and pointed to the roof of one of the houses.

"Look at that Sev. That's the fifth or sixth roof I've seen so far with a bunch of snow knocked off of it. And it looks like there are footprints."

"On the roof?" He got closer, right to the edge of the lawn. "You're right, I see it now." Glancing down the street. "And I see what you mean by the other roofs too. But if it's a pattern like that, it would indicate jumping not flying. And there's no reason for a wizard to jump."

"Perhaps they kept landing?"

"But why? They could just hover if they wanted to talk to her, unless they were very amateur with a broomstick."

She shook her head. "None of this is making any sense! She shouldn't have been able to climb down the trellis, she took books when she didn't even take a lot of her clothes, somebody's been in the trees and on the roofs but the aurors didn't think a wizard was in the area…"

"Maybe it wasn't a wizard," he sighed, and his slight shoulders slumped. "We're almost to the park, though, so we might as well check it out."

As the police had said, the trail ended abruptly at the park. There were a few footprints about, but not much else.

"Here are those prints my parents mentioned. They are weird - like the person was stumbling. And this tree is green too," Lily murmured, putting her hands on the rough bark of a large oak. "Though it looks like one of the branches got torn off by something."

"It does seem to confirm that there was something supernatural that followed her here, at least," he nodded. "More than that, though, I'm not sure what we can say about it."

"There's nothing in front of her steps. Nothing at all." She shook her head. "I mean, if she was climbing on a broom, the twigs would have brushed the ground at least, right?"

"Probably." He bit his lip.

"None of this makes sense!" She sighed and sat down in one of the swings. The moment she put her full weight on it, though, it tore off from the set and she fell to the ground.

"Lily!" Snape helped her out of the snow. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah," she puffed, brushing snow off her jeans. "Mostly just my pride that's wounded."

"These things are so old," he said. "Looks like some of the chains were bent and finally broke. The whole thing looks warped," he shook his head. "Don't know why they let kids play on them."

"I don't know. But I'm cold and wet and we aren't getting anywhere." She looked at the footprints. "Let's go home and go over what we're got."

_OOO_

_Three Months Ago_

_OOO_

"Petunia, you need to focus!" St. John urged.

"I'm focusing!" She snapped.

They stood in the garden of a house he was renting, high-walled and private. There were vines tangled all around and Petunia glared at them, getting sweaty and frustrated. Morty glared at St. John, but he remained stoic and adamant.

"You need finer control over your powers. It's not enough to be able to spur growth, however larger that growth may be. If it's not controlled, you're a danger to yourself and others."

She nodded, her stomach lurching as she remembered the first day she'd met St. John. Running back to tell Morty she'd met somebody like them, she'd found him being roughed up by some neighborhood boys beneath their tree. She could still hear the crash of the branch, this one breaking bone. Temping as it had been to heal the tree, she'd left the scar to help them stay hidden and as a reminder of what could happen if she lost control.

"Alright," she breathed. "Around the stake?"

"Yes. Curl the vine around the stake and then make the flower bloom."

Closing her eyes, she tried to push away her anxiety. There was only her and the vine and endless expanses of cool green. She could feel the vine, feel the sunlight upon it and the breezes buffeting it. Opening her eyes, she gestured and it curled up around the stake, then unfolded into a delicate white blossom. St. John clapped and Morty cheered.

"Very good Petunia."

"Way to go Tuney!"

She smiled, proud of herself, and plucked the flower to put into her hair.

"I'm really getting the hang of this, aren't I?" She grinned.

"You're getting there," St. John nodded, getting a glass of water from a pitcher atop a small garden table. Petunia and Morty joined him at it, trying to cool down from the heated day. "But though you're mastering growth, there are other aspects of your power I'm worried about."

"What d'you mean?" She asked between gulps of water.

He glanced at Morty. "Petunia, you're going to need to be careful. I don't think making plants grow is all there is to your power."

She frowned. "What else do you think there is?"

"Your breath smells… odd. Not _bad_," he clarified when her face flushed red. "But after I've been in your presence for a while, I start to feel ill, especially if I'm close."

"Well I don't feel anything!" Morty shot at him, slopping water on himself.

"Probably because you're already so full of toxins you're immune. I tried analyzing that saliva of yours and it's a cocktail of I can't even tell what."

"Toxic?" Petunia nearly dropped her glass.

"Toxic," he nodded. "Many plants are. It's not a stretch to think that you're mutation would include something like that. And I don't know how far it might go. Near as I can tell, your mutation is still unfolding. If it's biologically based – there are plants that are hallucinogens, that are extremely poisonous, that are potentially lethal. We need to be careful. If you're exhaling some type of miasma, you might be doing it unconsciously. Remember, this is about exercising, so that you can get all of it under control. Part of that is realizing what you're doing so that you can work on it, get your skills up."

"And when I do, I'll get to meet your boss?"

"Yes," he nodded. "I've been informing him of your progress and he's very pleased."

She grinned but Morty's expression was still sour.

"And what about me?"

"You're doing fine for now," St. John sighed. "But you would be getting further along if you were working out during the day instead of watching Petunia practice. Your athleticism and other skills could be useful, but you have to quit slouching and improve your musculature. As long as you keep your tongue short, there's no reason you couldn't blend in more. And that would make you more useful since you could slip into places without people knowing you were different at first glance."

"And will I get to go where Petunia does?"

"When the time comes, yes," he sighed impatiently.

"Fine," he snapped, and jumped back inside.

"You know he likes you?" St. John said conversationally once the door was shut.

"He's a friend," she said, looking down and flushing. "I don't want to hurt him."

St. John nodded and finished his glass. "Not to sound like a broken record, but if that's your goal, the best thing you can do is work at this. Now come on. We only have another couple hours before you'll have to get back. Let's try the stake exercise a few more times and see if you can start intertwining the vines."


	5. In My Own Hand

When they got back, there was a police vehicle in the driveway and Lily gave Severus a look before heading inside. The officer was seated at the table with her parents flanking him on either side. As they came in through the door, her mother looked up.

"Come in, Lily dear." She swept them inside, shutting the door and taking gloves and scarves as she went. "I don't want to fuss, but please let your father and I know where you've gone the next time. We were worried."

"I'm sorry, mum. I was just out with Sev, but I should have realized. I'll leave a note next time," she said apologetically.

"Sorry, Mrs. Evans," Severus added.

"So you're her sister?" The officer looked Lily over.

"Yes."

"I don't suppose you have any idea where she might have gone? Any friends she might be with, anybody who might have led her away?"

"No," she shook her head. "I'm sorry. We used to be close, but we've grown distant."

"Why was that?" He looked at the parents. "Issues at home?"

"Just… jealousies, I guess." She shot a look at Severus, who looked at the floor.

"Lily got to go to a special school. Petunia wasn't quite… she went somewhere a little more local," Mrs. Evans tried to explain without tipping her hand.

"I see. So you're away most of the time? Your parents said you went to a boarding school."

"That's correct. Tuney didn't write often so I didn't really know very much. This was the first I'd heard of her in a long time." Lily chewed her lip, worrying at how she had let the gulf between them grow so deep.

"I don't understand!" Her mother fretted. "She seemed to be doing well in school, her grades were up, even in the sciences, she was participating in sports – and then this." She shook her head. "I don't know where it came from."

"Well, as I said, we talked to some of the girls at school, the story was always the same – friendly but not close, knew her but didn't know her well. Though some did say that they were closer last year, that she grew a little more distant over the summer." He focused again on Lily. "Were you here then? Do you know anything about that?"

"Yes, I was here. But I was usually with my own friends." Her eyes started to well. "I didn't really even know when Tuney was here or not."

"I thought she was just getting independent." Her father's hands were folded atop the table and he kept his gaze focused on them. "Spreading her wings a little bit, exploring the neighborhood. She always came home at night, always did her chores. No problems with drinking or any of that, though I know some of the neighborhood kids had parties. A little distant, but aren't all teenagers?"

"Petunia was always mature," Mrs. Evans told the officer. "Very responsible, meticulous. She was a good girl!" Her tears broke and Lily moved to grab a tissue off the table for her mother.

"Please stay calm, ma'am. We're doing everything we can to find her." The officer put a hand on her shoulder. "We completed the interviews with the children in her level and who did extracurricular activities with her. Didn't get much. But one or two said that the saw her on occasion with a boy who didn't go to their school."

"Did they say what he looked like?" Her father lifted his head for the first time.

"Not much. Only that he was short and had brownish hair." He looked at the children. "Do you know anybody like that?"

"Not specifically."

"We'll continue to do what we can, then," the officer promised. "As I told you before, if you think of something, anything, don't hesitate to call. And keep somebody at home or by the phone if you can – sometimes when a kid leaves, it's not for very long and they go looking to come back right away. If she's in any trouble, she might try to contact you."

"Of course," he mother nodded frantically. "Of course."

"Alright then. Take care and I hope the next time I see you it will be with good news."

The moment the officer drove off, an uneasy silence descended on the kitchen until Severus finally coughed.

"Mrs. Evans? May Lily and I go upstairs?"

"Of course dears. Just don't go wandering off again!" She hugged Lily fiercely. "I know you have your magic, but I don't want anything to happen to you too!"

"I know, mum, I know." She squeezed back, then slipped away to go up the stairs. "What did you think of that?" She whispered. "What he said about the boy?"

"It did seem like somebody was with her. But if it was somebody our age, I don't know how they could have used magic. They'd be caught by the Ministry for sure."

"Maybe the person only looked young. It could have been somebody older who was just short. It didn't seem like the other students got a very good look."

"And it might not have been a wizard." Severus sighed. "But all of that leaves us with a lot more questions than answers. And not much place to go from here."

"What about our magic?" Lily asked, falling onto her bed. "Like a tracking spell or something?"

"I think you have to cast those before the person actually goes away. Even in the wizarding world it's not always easy to find people."

"There has to be something," she moaned, burying her face in the pillow.

Severus looked at her sadly, privately doubting that Petunia was worth her tears, or would have felt so upset if the situation was reverse.

"Nothing we can do for now," he said softly. "Nothing but wait."

_OOO_

_Two months ago_

_OOO_

Petunia sighed as she pored over the book. Getting to use her powers seemed like loads of fun at first – making things grow and bloom, releasing energy that she didn't even know she had pent up beside her. St. John had helped her use her powers to grasp objects with her plants, sense what was around her plants even with her eyes closed, make plants grow from nothing at all, make them grow in special shapes or even faster than before. The plants were getting more substantial too – she had begun with modifying existing plants and growing flowers and vines but during their last practice session she had grown a tree. It wasn't _very_ large, but it was a tree nonetheless and Morty had hopped on its branches, flipping and laughing, until St. John had ordered him down.

Now it was getting tougher, though. The tasks that had given her trouble at first were getting easier to the point where she could almost do them without thinking. But the new ones St. John was putting her to took up more concentration than ever. He'd even gone so far as to give her homework, a book of plants he told her to study to start memorizing their properties. It was useful, he said, to be able to grow _specific_ plants to suit situational needs.

It was a thick volume, right at home with her other school books. She groaned at the thought of more homework, but shook her head. No, this was a good thing. Surely Lily – stupid Lily – had homework from her special school. If she wanted to be good, she had to make sacrifices, even if that meant more evenings studying. Wasn't as though she had anywhere else to be anyway. She didn't trust herself around the other students, even with her increased level of control, didn't want anybody to know. And in seeing them all drift away, she found she'd never been very attached to them to begin with.

St. John wanted her using more than just her powers, too. He said that his boss wanted them all physically fit. To disguise her progress, she'd joined sports, hoping that would provide an excuse to cover her early morning runs. She still wasn't as athletic or agile as Morty could be – she doubted she ever would – but it was noticeable and that was pleasing too, made her feel like she was getting control over her own life.

Making underscores and little notes besides plants she thought were interesting, she bent her head studiously over her work. Soon she became so absorbed that she barely heard her mother knock on the door to help with dinner.

"Sorry, mum," she stood. "Just doing a little homework."

"Not done yet?" She frowned. "It seems like you've been working since you came home from school."

"I came home late because of practice, though," Petunia replied. "And there was a lot this week."

"Well, can I get help with dinner?"

"Ok. What do you want me to do?"

"Not much. Peel the potatoes for a gratin?"

"Sure." Petunia went down into the cellar to pick up a few potatoes. But the moment she touched the first one, it began to soften and grow blotchy. With a lurch, she realizing it was rotting. Stifling a gasp, she drew her hand away like it was burned, and studied the flesh of her palm for a moment. Quickly, she took out the offending potato and tossed it into the compost heap outside, the rot spreading each moment longer it was in her hand.

"Mum?" She tried to keep her voice from shaking when she got back in. "I think some of the potatoes are bad."

"Really? I only bought them a week or two ago."

"Maybe it was only one. Anyway I really have a lot of homework to do – could I clean up after instead of helping make dinner?"

"Oh, alright. If you have homework to finish, that's probably more important anyway. Go on and I'll make carrots instead for tonight."

Her mother nodded her away and Petunia scrambled up the stairs before her legs gave out on her. She collapsed in the chair in front of her desk still shaking, opening the book and trying to focus on that. Barely able to hold the pen, however, she dropped it, slammed the book shut, and buried her head in her hands.

All through dinner, her stomach twitched and she didn't ask her parents to pass her anything at the table. She was relieved to put on gloves to wash the dishes and wondered with nauseating curiosity what else her touch might poison.

St. John would have to be told, giving her something else to try to get under control. She was making progress with her breathing, but he still had to step away from her sometimes and she could still smell the scent of flowers permeating her room when she woke up, unable to control it in her sleep. Now this, she fretted, something else to try and suppress.

The only one who probably wouldn't care, she reflected, was Morty. Her miasma never seemed to bother him and, if his system were as rife with toxins as St. John seemed to suggest, he probably wouldn't be affected by this either. She smiled despite herself; it gave her a measure of relief to know that there was at least one person her powers wouldn't isolate her from.


	6. Out to Get You

Lily tried to work her way through the mystery of her sister's disappearance with Severus, but the longer they talked the more it seemed like the whole matter was a puzzle where half the pieces were missing and the rest didn't fit together. Eventually they had given up and Severus had steered them to the subject of potions, something which normally cheered Lily.

She felt restless the whole day, though, and it almost seemed a relief when dinner came around. Afterward she professed tiredness and her parents agreed, letting her slip off to bed while Severus looked at her retreat with worried eyes. Her exhaustion was real, but once in bed she did not immediately drift off to sleep.

Instead, she looked out of the windows, into the night, at the stars that were appearing in the sky above and the crusting of snow that still lined the land below. Warm in her nightgown, under her covers, she thought about how cold it was outside, thought of her sister out there in the dark and chill. She wondered if she was cold or hungry or lonely, if she was somewhere safe or if she was in some kind of danger.

Despite the dread it produced in her, she wondered if Petunia was dead.

Sickened at the thought, she tried to divert her mind and once again came around to the ever-pressing question of _why_. Had her sister hated her that much? Had she been desperate enough to join her sister's world that she trusted a stranger's false promises of hope? Had there been another reason, a boyfriend perhaps?

Whatever the cause, Lily thought miserably, Petunia had been good at keeping her secrets. Her mind ran over everything, every bit of information that she had come across with Sev, and none of it told them much of anything. The only thing she felt she knew for sure, felt deep down even if the aurors had professed no involvement, was that there was something supernatural about it all. Someone with magic _had_ to be involved.

Sighing, she turned off the light and lay down in her bed. Even with her thoughts so frantic and disarrayed, she slowly drifted off to sleep.

In the yard, a figure moved when the light in her bedroom winked out and a tiny glow appeared.

"Damn it, Wyngarde, don't light that here." St. John snapped and the tiny flame went out while the other man, grey and gaunt in a weather overcoat, glared at him.

"Don't see the harm in having a smoke. I've been itching for ages. Been following them for the better part of the day."

"We'll be done in a moment. We just have to make sure she's asleep." He sighed in frustration. "She warned us her sister might be nosy."

"So what do you want me to do?" The other man asked, still miffed as he jammed his cigarettes back into his pocket.

"She looks because she hopes. Have her dream of Petunia dead. Natural causes. Just a lonely kid who ran away and died from exposure. No hints about any strange stuff."

They fell behind the trees again and with moments heard a scream.

"Now we're done," St. John murmured. "Let's get out of here and you can have your smoke."

Inside the house, Severus heard Lily scream and nearly crashed into her running down the stairs as he started to run up them.

Lily!" He grabbed her to still her. "Lily, what on earth's the matter?"

"Petunia!" She gasped. "I… I saw her dead, Sev!"

"Lily!" Her mother was on the stairs too, comforting her. "Lily, you were asleep. You had a nightmare."

"It was so real, it felt real!" She wiped at her eyes. "I felt like I could see her, all these months. She was sad and lonely and empty. She wanted to get away but she didn't know where to go and she just… she…" Lily broke down and her mother hugged her.

"Shhhhh. It was just a dream. Sit down and I'll take you some tea." She kissed her daughter. "And don't give up. They might still find her."

Severus led her to the living room. "Your mother is right, Lily. You're stressed to be sure, but it was but a nightmare."

"It didn't feel that way," she whispered. "I've had nightmares. This was different. This felt real, like I could feel the cold in her fingertips, the isolation, the anger – all of it." She looked at Severus with tearful eyes. "And some wizards can have visions, can't they?"

He hesitated before slowly nodded. "It's not unheard of," he said carefully, "but legitimate visions are very rare. This is much more likely a dream."

Lily's mother returned with her tea, fixed with liberal amounts of milk and sugar. Lily sipped at it and didn't say much more, but Severus could tell she had come to her own conclusions about the nature of what had just happened.

A nightmare was the much more likely explanation. But, he thought, given the likelihood of the outcome, perhaps it was all for the best to entertain the thought that she was dead, lest unwarranted optimism lead to a harsher shock if her body was inevitably found. If a wizard was involved, her family might not even get that much, in which case envisioning Petunia as dead might help her accept that reality even in the absence of more concrete evidence.

So Severus let her have her tears, rubbing her back while she mourned the sister about whom she now feared – and felt she know – the worst.

_OOO_

_One month ago_

_OOO_

The chilly fall weather was both a difficulty and a relief to Petunia. The shorter days seemed to be taking a toll on her, something that St. John suggested might be due to her still-evolving mutation. Again, he said, she had to consider plants – if they were wanting for sunlight, so might she be.

But the cold weather also gave her an excuse to bundle up, to cover her face with a scarf and her hands with gloves. She didn't have to worry about much about carelessly brushing against somebody and making them ill, didn't have to focus as much on constantly checking her powers. She was still mindful, however, of her need to harness them permanently, and her trips to St. John's home had become a near-daily ritual, prevented only when there was no time or excuse to escape her parents.

This day she made her was with an album clutched in her hands. When she knocked, Morty opened it, grinning his normal too-wide grin when he saw her.

"Tuney!"

"Hey Morty!" She held out the album. "Got us something to listen to while we worked. Is St. John around?"

"Went off to meet somebody, said he'd be back later." He flipped the album in his hands. "Want me to put this on?"

"Yeah, get out the record player while I change."

He took the turntable into the exercise room and set the needle on while she started the stretch. He flipped around a few times on the beams and she ran a couple of miles, but eventually, tired and bored, they stretched out to listen to the music instead.

"Lily will be home soon from boarding school," she sighed.

"I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault." She made a face. "But I probably won't get to be around as much."

_To avoid complications she never kept the same address  
>In conversation she spoke just like a baroness<em>

"How long will she stay?" Morty sat up.

"Just a month or so." She sighed, relaxing in the sunlight coming in through the window. "Wish she would just stay at that stupid school, though."

_Fastidious and precise_

"I wish she would too. It's not as much fun when you're not here."

She laughed. "Yeah, because then St. John can focus all his attention on you and make sure that you work harder."

"That's not the only reason!" He protested.

_Guaranteed to blow your mind_

"Well at least somebody cares." She sat up and drew her knees to her, tracing aimless patterns in the carpet. "As soon as Lily gets home, she's all my parents ever care about."

"Then they're really stupid," Morty said, looking at her and bracing himself. "I think you're…"

"Was that the door?" Petunia cut their conversation short as she reached over and took off the needle. "I think St. John's back."

She ran off to see while Morty, looking slightly crestfallen, followed a moment later. St. John was there, flanked by two other men.

"Petunia! I was hoping you'd come today." He took off his cloak. "Clean up, both of you. We need to talk."

Petunia's heart sank; his tone was serious and his expression equally grave.

"What do you think this is about?" She whispered to Mortimer as they went to clean up.

"I don't know. And who were those guys with him?"

"I guess we'll find out," she shrugged.

They reappeared half an hour later, Petunia in her uniform and Mortimer in some of the cleaner clothes that St. John, on the pretenses of blending in, had gotten Morty when he'd taken him in. The two men and St. John had already made themselves comfortable in the living room and St. John gestured to the couch.

"Have a seat."

"What's this about?" Petunia asked, nervously tucking her skirt underneath her.

St. John sat back. "As you both know, I work for a larger organization. We call ourselves the Brotherhood. These are two of my fellow members. This is Mastermind," he said, gesturing to the shabby man on his left, "and this is Avalanche," he said, gesturing to the swarthy, well-built man on his right.

"Are those really their names?" Mortimer asked suspiciously.

"They have more regular names," St. John admitted.

"Jason Wyngarde," said the one as he lit a cigarette.

"Dominic Petros," said the other solemnly.

"But those in our organization often prefer to refer to one another by taken names, derived from our powers." He pressed a hand on his chest. "I go by Pyro. And the time has come that we explain a little more about the Brotherhood. Remember when I met you Petunia, what I told you?"

"You said that you wanted to help me develop my powers."

He nodded. "And that's true. However, powers have a purpose. Powers have a use." He steepled his hands. "Petunia, do you remember what else happened the day you met me?"

"Yes," she hissed. "Those boys attacked Morty and I…"

"You reacted as anybody might act," he said with an understanding nod. "There are many, many humans like those boys out there. And there are many mutants like Morty – often they are even more obvious, even more vulnerable. Though we are still somewhat in the shadows, people know we are out there – and it is no understatement to say that many of them despise us."

"Some would have us hide," Avalanche interjected. "But that is not the way the Brotherhood sees matters."

"Quite true. Do you understand what we are saying? Sometimes we have to fight. And believe me Petunia, a fight is coming. Mastermind?"

He nodded and suddenly a huge robot was before them, looking real as anything Petunia had ever seen and making her reflexively grip the couch.

"This is but one of the mechanisms humans are seeking to build to arm themselves against us," the man spoke. "To hunt us down and murder us all."

She frowned as the vision vanished. "But I thought people like us lived apart, like Lily's kind."

"Your sister?" Pyro frowned. "What do you mean, her kind?"

Realizing what she had let slip, Petunia blanched. "I mean… I thought… you'll think me silly."

"Try me."

"Lily's a witch. As in magic. It's as real as our powers are," she admitted.

Morty looked. 'But I thought you said…"

"You never told me you had connections with the wizarding community," Pyro interrupted.

"You know about it?" Her mouth gaped, but then she looked away. "I didn't think it was important."

"This may change matters," Avalanche spoke up.

"Indeed. But then you know even more of the dilemma I speak of. Is that really what you want, Petunia – to hide away like that community does? To give humans the run of earth, of freedom, when they are the ones who are less powerful?"

She looked up at him.

"You and I, all of us in this room – we are _special_, Petunia. But we are also hated for it. Just as your sister and her kind would be if they revealed themselves. And there are some of us – in both communities – who tire of such hiding in the name of 'cooperation.' I brought the others here today to show you that you are not alone, that you can have a community, a family of your own in the Brotherhood. Our leader wishes to meet you soon – do you want to come and join him? Come away from this place that you hate and stand in the ranks of those like yourself?"

Petunia thought of the vision, of Lily's secrecy, of her own anxiety. But at the same time she thought, as the moment drew near, of what it might really mean to leave home, to leave everything she had known or cared about to this point.

"Well I'll sign up," Morty said.

"And you Petunia?" Pyro said softly.

"She bit her lip. "I… I need to think!" She bolted up and grabbed her coat.

Avalanche looked at Pyro but St. John placed a hand on his companion's arm.

"Be patient."

"But she was the one he really wanted."

"I'm right here you know!" Morty huffed crossly, before bounding up the stairs to one of the other rooms and shutting himself in.

Petunia hurried home and opened the door to find her mother and father sitting at the table, with a letter.

"Look! Lily sent us another owl!" Her mother smiled brightly. "Care to hear how she's been…"

"I think I left something at the library." Petunia turned coldly on her heels and rushed back to St. John's.

He smiled at the other two when she stomped into the living room, flushed red with anger and the cold.

"I'm in."


	7. Made My Break

The last month stretched interminably for Petunia, having to suffer her parents' excitement at the prospect of Lily coming home. That the plants around her were dead and dying did nothing to cheer her mood. The flower beds she had voluntarily tended in the warmth of summer were withered and though she longed to make them green again, she didn't dare.

Keeping everything secret felt harder than ever and she found herself acknowledging the truth of St. John's words more and more. She shouldn't have to hide, shouldn't have to worry about errant touches or harmless displays of power frightening those around her. They were the leap forward, he said; they were the future.

But he'd made it clear since that day that it was a future they were going to have to fight to see realized. From then on, she'd learned more aggressive applications of the basic skills she had already been mastering. Out of the foundations of her vine growing skills grew lessons in how to capture, subdue, even strangle. Her toxic breath and withering touch were weapons to control, not simply suppress. She learned to grow plants with thorns far larger and sharper than normal, with spines, with intoxicating scents, with poison in their veins.

Morty watched her with a kind of awe and St. John nodded approvingly. Deadly was useful, he told her. Not that she would be put into action right away – not when she was so young and her powers still so relatively untamed. But someday, he promised, someday she would be a force to be reckoned with, a force to be feared.

The thought of being able to finally make people take her seriously, to finally make them _see_ her made her flush and redouble her efforts. And if she ever grew tired or wanted to slacken, she thought of Severus Snape, of the disregard in his black eyes directed at her, his contempt and his disdain. Her loathing surged back, and whatever task she was at would be viciously completed. Sometimes it exhausted her; occasionally it took so much out of her that she would collapse. But each time she got back up and pushed further.

She would show him who was special. Him and Lily and her parents – every last one of them. After all, as St. John implied, even for their powers the wizards were of the past. They relied on exterior methods, on wands and potions and other devices, to augment their powers. The powers of mutants, he reminded her, were born within them. Her strength was part of her very being and couldn't be taken from her with the snapping of a wand.

They were the _future_. A future that not even wizards fully represented.

She left the final training session buzzing with eagerness. They would meet in the park, St. John said. Midnight and the leader of the Brotherhood would be there. At fifteen until the hour, a rock tapped against her window.

"Morty!" She lifted and looked out. "What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be at the park?"

"Oh, I, uh, just thought I'd check it you needed help."

"I'm fine, Morty," she whispered, buttoning up her coat. "But you better hope my parents don't hear you!"

"I'll be caref… ah!"

"Morty!" She hissed and held out a hand to make the branches stretch when he slipped.

"Sorry, sorry."

"Well, I'm ready now, so let's head out." She shouldered a backpack and threw a duffel of clothing to the ground before climbing out of the window. The vines on the trellis rose to meet her and slowly carried her down to the ground. "We'd better hurry or we'll be late!"

They made their way rapidly in the dark, she along the sidewalks and he from roof to roof, until they came to the place where they first met. There was nothing there so they waited beneath the tree in which they'd spent so much of the summer. All they could hear at first was the sound of their own breathing, puffing light clouds into the cold air around them. Then the metal chains on the swings started to clink, even in the absence of wind.

In an instant, a ship appeared in front of them. Petunia gasped and Morty grabbed her arm. A man hovered in front of it, having appeared as suddenly as the ship.

"Forgive me if I startled you," the man said. "Mastermind cloaking our entry was necessary."

The sharp outline of his helm sparkled in the starlight and he was dressed regally in purples and reds. Petunia could feel power coming off of him, washing over her like a wave. Every hair stood on end, every beat of her heart thrummed with excitement.

With deliberate movements, the man lifted off his helmet, revealing the dark hair flecked with grey. A metal disk shaped itself beneath his feet and he floated towards her on it.

"I am Magneto." He extended his hand towards her. "And I have come to offer you entry into my Brotherhood."

For a moment she stood in silent awe, half afraid her heart might beat out of her chest. Then she reached up and took the hand that he offered. He pulled her up onto the platform with him and, now that they were closer, she could see his eyes, cold and vivid, burning with an intensity she had never encountered before.

"What about me!" Morty protested from the ground.

"We wouldn't leave ya!" A panel on the side of the ship slid away, revealing St. John – or at least somebody who sounded like St. John – standing in the frame. "Think you can jump?"

"Fine!" Morty sprang from the ground to the tree, then into the ship.

Meanwhile, Magneto floated in with Petunia still holding on to him.

"This is amazing," she breathed. Again, she felt a pang of jealousy towards her sister; for all of her powers, she could not fly under her own capabilities. It was a wonderful feeling to be able to do so, and she was left feeling still cheated.

"I am flattered that you think so." Once inside, she saw one of the men she had met earlier. "Mastermind – cloak us."

"Of course."

"Want me to show them around?" St. John offered. For the first time, Petunia saw him in what she assumed was some kind of uniform or armor. It covered most of him in warm shades of red, orange and yellow, but there was space as the top for his naturally red hair to spill over. His hands were connected with tubing to a canister on his back and goggles covered his eyes. The look was certainly more sinister than she was used to; but she still felt her cheeks heat at the sight.

"No, I will take them around." He looked at Petunia then Morty. "Follow me."

They did, trailing in his wake through the metal hall of the ship.

"For now it is not very spacious," he admitted. "Function over form. But I wanted to make sure you both had these." He led them through a hallway rife with control panels to what seemed to be a locker room of sorts. "St. John was quite comprehensive in his reports about your powers and what you might need in the way of a uniform. I trust these will suffice?"

He opened two of the lockers with a wave of his hand. Petunia dropped her bags and ran up to the one undoubtedly for her; the armor was in shades of white and pink. She ran her hands over it, wondering how it would fit, how she would look in it.

"I love it already!"

"_Nice_," Morty nodded, exploring his own suit of dark greens and blacks.

"Then, as you might have guessed, there is but one formality left to take care of. I assume you have noticed that we all have names?" Petunia nodded. "We take these as a sign that we assumed new identities – that as mutants, our power has become an irrevocable part of our identity and that we should be named as such."

"So what are our names going to be?" Morty asked, stretching the fabric of his costume.

"If you like, you may decide for yourselves. I would not presume to name you."

"I haven't even thought about what I could be called," Petunia admitted. "It seems too odd to think of myself as anything else but Petunia."

"Give it time; you will get used to it," Magneto promised. "Change and join us in the cockpit."

Their backs turned towards one another, Petunia and Morty divested themselves of their normal trappings and pulled on the uniforms they had been given. Hers was pink and white, half a dress with a high collared throat and a belt cinching the waist, and half a body suit covering her legs and arms, with white boots and gloves accenting the ensemble. The material was strong but flexible, breathed well and fit them perfectly. Petunia wondered what they could be made of, to fit like a glove and yet go on so easily.

When they walked to the cockpit she was a reflection of herself in the windows. It was dim, but she could see the stronger lines her body cut in the uniform, the power that belied the soft colors of the armor. Better, she thought to herself, than frumpy robes.

Morty's was more of a plain bodysuit. He didn't have full gloves; the suit went down around his hands, but the fingers were cut out. His boots were less delicate, more of a combat boot, and he had goggles around his neck like Pyro's. She noticed that in his new uniform, he seemed to stand a little straighter, a little taller. Deceptive, she thought, how small he looked when he crouched down, compared to what his full height was.

"I take it the suits are to your liking?" Magneto smiled.

"Fantastic!" She held out a gloved hand, flexed her fingers.

"Have you chosen your names?"

She blushed. "I wouldn't even know… I haven't."

"Me neither," Morty admitted.

"Then if I may be so presumptuous?" He looked at Morty first. "The Toad. As befits your jumping ability and your prehensile tongue." He then turned to Petunia. "Oleander. Beautiful, delicate – and utterly poisonous."

"Love it," she whispered.

Morty – Toad – did not look quite so happy, but with the excitement of leaving and getting their uniforms, they were in a good mood all around. Magneto left them in the hands of Pyro and Avalanche who were piloting the ship while he retired to another part of the vessel with Mastermind.

"This is amazing!" Petunia stared at the controls.

"Well pay good attention to it, both of you," Pyro said. "Someday you're gonna learn to pilot her as well as us."

"Pilot?" Petunia gasped. "I don't think I could _pilot_."

"You will learn," Avalanche said. "Do not tell yourself you cannot do something before you have even attempted it. It is necessary that all members of a team know how to use to equipment on a mission – there might come a day when you will _have_ to fly. And the sooner you learn the more practice you will have."

The crowded around the pilot seats, then, watching what buttons they pressed and levers they pulled with Pyro and Avalanche slowly explaining all of it to help familiarize them. Petunia's interest was cut short, however, when, several hours into the flight, a castle came into view.

"Is that…"

"Headquarters," Pyro said, landing the ship on top of the castle.

They stepped out to find a party already waiting for them. There was a blue mutant, more different than anything Petunia had ever seen, dressed in white, an enormous man who seemed to be little more than a mountain of flesh, and a young women, older than Petunia but not by much, dressed in red.

"Welcome back," the blue woman said.

Magneto turned to Toad and Oleander.

"Welcome home."

_OOO_

_Six Months Later_

_OOO_

The time had gone by slowly and painfully for Lily. Her nightmare haunted her and no effort her family and friends made to cheer her up – not the constant presence of Severus, not the renewed friendship and deepening closeness with him, not even the prospect of returning to Hogwarts – had dulled the loss of her sister. She had finished her year at school, hoping with every owl there would be news.

But there never was.

Severus had even suggested sending an owl, hoping that it might magically find its way to Petunia. It never returned. She was not entirely sure what to make of that, but it only intensified her loss, made her seem even beyond the reach of magic.

So when she was finally scheduled to come home from school, her parents at last agreed that the time had come to have a memorial and to, however slightly, let go of a portion of their dimming hope. Severus vowed to stay by her side, offer what comfort he could.

Then, three days after she had come home from Hogwarts, there was a knock at the door. Lily opened it and froze. A figure stood in front of her, tired and worn looking, with a battered backpack across her slumped shoulders.

"Tuney?" She whispered.

She did not dare believe it. It had to be a vision, a hallucination. Somewhere behind her she heard footsteps - Severus perhaps. But all she could see was the girl in front of her through her rapidly misting eyes.

"Hi Lily." The bedraggled girl gave a small smile. "I'm home."


	8. Friends You Can Trust

_OOO_

_Six Months Ago_

_OOO_

Petunia quickly learned that the Brotherhood was, for all intents and purposes, split into two main groups, younger and older. Magneto, while assuring her that he was personally invested in her progress, kept his own counsel with the older members of the Brotherhood. His right hand seemed to be the blue woman she had seen the first day, Mystique, a shape shifter who, Pyro indicated, did much of their spying and reconnaissance.

The others he kept close included Mastermind, Blob – the enormous man – and the Scarlet Witch who was not a witch as Petunia knew them; but if Mystique was Magneto's right hand, she surely was his left. Avalanche was occasionally included amongst their numbers, though he was just as often with Pyro in training the younger members. And, she had been told, there were some others away from that castle at the moment, including a feral mutant who went by Sabertooth. Pyro's face darkened when he spoke of him and Petunia felt a little bit grateful he was away.

She and Mortimer were nearly the only younger ones, but there was a green-haired girl named Lorna, younger than Petunia but older than Lily, who managed to be shy and bubbly simultaneously and confided that her code name was Polaris, as well as a girl who was Petunia's age with an awful American accent who called herself Boom-Boom and wouldn't offer any other name. She set a small explosive in Morty's room the first night and between that and her penchant for wearing tube tops she nearly spilled out of, Petunia quickly decided she didn't care much for her.

There were others who drifted on the edge. Pyro was older but had been put largely in charge of training them, with some help from Avalanche. There was a second blue mutant who hung around Scarlet Witch, but did not seem to be fully in Magneto's confidences, though he was permitted to stay. And there was a silver-haired man who, according to Pyro, was the Scarlet Witch's brother, but was far less responsible. His main job seemed to be causing trouble, though he did tend to be the one they relied on when they needed somebody to venture out from the castle for provisions or other matters.

The entire set-up was more martial than Hogwarts doubtless was, at least according to Lily's letters. But it was also out in the middle of nowhere, meaning that her powers could run as free as she pleased. There was forest all around the castle and when she looked out over it, if she focused hard enough she could make the trees quiver.

Pyro stood next to her one day and watched after she'd mentioned it to him in a training section.

"That's quite a large span of area you're affecting."

"It wasn't this large at first," she admitted. "And it's not doing _very_ much. I'm only able to move the leaves, really. It's harder to make something grow at this distance."

"But it's a basis," he said thoughtfully. "Still, I think the next thing we're going to try is testing your ability to affect dead wood."

"Why? I can conjure nearly any plant all on my own."

"Think for a minute, Petunia. We might be entering into temporary agreements with some, shall we say, necessary parties – but we're fooling ourselves if we think that's going to last. And in the meanwhile, we might be facing opposition from the other side too."

"Wands!" She said, snapping her fingers. "You want me to affect wands somehow."

He nodded. "It's one thing to use your powers against a regular human. But Magneto has told us of some of the things wizards can do."

"I know," she muttered. "I've seen my sister do many of them. Teacups into mice and all manner of stupid nonsense," she spat venomously.

"Not all of it is nonsense. A lot of it could put us at risk. But without their wands, most wizards can't do very much at all." He put a hand on her shoulder. "Do you see how important a skill like that would become in a combat situation against such opponents?"

"I could disarm them," she whispered. "All of them, if I learned to focus."

"So what are we waiting for?" He grinned.

They went back down to the room they used to train – only temporarily, Pyro promised, as another room in the castle was being outfitted with technology for more advanced simulation training. Boom Boom was slouched in a chair looking bored while Polaris was moving metal platforms around the room and Toad was practicing leaping from shifting platform to shifting platform.

"Oleander!" Polaris squealed. Her concentration shattered, the metal plates came crashing to the ground, as did Toad.

"Ouch!"

"Ohmygosh, I'm so sorry!" She gasped. "We were wondering where you were!" She said, looking back up at Petunia.

"I wasn't," Boom Boom interjected.

"If you're not going to work with your teammates, Tabitha, then at least stay out of the way."

"Whatever." She got up to her feet. "Pietro's more fun than you guys anyway."

She slunk out of the room, Pyro glaring at her, while Polaris and Petunia made sure no bones were broken.

"Just bruised, I think," he winced.

"I didn't mean to," Polaris flushed.

"Let that be a lesson to all of you," Pryo said as he came over and helped Toad up. "Imagine if that happened in the middle of a fight. Your teammate might have been depending on you and your distraction, however brief, could have cost very dearly."

Polaris looked mortified and Toad was still wincing, but Petunia nodded her understanding. With her teammates looking on, Pyro set a wooden spoon in front of her.

"Do what you can," was his only instruction.

Unfortunately, it wasn't much. She could sense the organic nature of the object, but could not get it to respond to her – to move or to revive or sprout. After a half an hour of frustrated concentration, doing nothing at all to the spoon in front of her, Petunia, snapped and threw it hard against the wall. Pyro sighed.

"Alright, we'll try some other time. Keeping working on what you can do, in the meanwhile. Do you want to spar with Polaris?"

"Sure," she nodded, glad to be getting back to something she had a little more confidence in.

Polaris could be cunning, and when she was able to wield sharp objects, she could even cut through some of Petunia's vines. However, her weakness lay in the fact that there wasn't always a lot of metal and Petunia's ability to dodge and grow plants up around her was getting to be faster than Polaris' skill at sending projectiles towards her. Polaris also had the unfortunate habit of wincing whenever she _did_ land a blow and apologizing for it. Petunia squelched all such hesitation and this session it was barely five minutes before she had Polaris about the throat, dragging the sputtering younger girl towards her.

"Good, good. Oleander – admirable progress, but you could be still faster. Polaris, same as always. You can't afford to lapse in your concentration and you _cannot_ apologize to your opponent in the middle of combat!"

"But she's not _really_ my opponent," Lorna gasped as she tugged away the slackened vines.

"In this room, if I tell you to fight, she absolutely is!" Pyro scolded. "Keep at it. And while we're on the subject, I want the three of you to start using your powers more regularly." He looked at each of them in turn. "Even to do tasks you consider routine or menial. This will get you using your powers as a matter of habit. They have to be instinctive. Understand?" They all nodded. "Good. And practice hard – soon you'll be up against more than one another."

_OOO_

_Present_

_OOO_

"Mom!" Lily screamed and ran back into the house. "Mom! Dad! Come here!"

Her momentary departure left Severus briefly alone with Petunia. Her eyes met and for a second, they flickered; there was a coldness there and, Severus could have sworn, a green the same tint as Lily's. But in a moment, it softened and she looked down at the floor.

"Petunia!" Mrs. Evans cried. Severus stepped aside to allow the family to surround and embrace their wayward daughter. Despite her enthusiasm, Lily did turn to him and took his hands.

"She's home!" Lily's face was streaked with tears that she clumsily wiped away before hugging him as well, sobbing into his shirt. "I thought she was… oh, but it doesn't matter now. She's _home!_" Then she turned back to her sister, taking her bags and swearing that everything had been left just as it was.

Feeling it was a moment best left to family, Severus slipped off. But the next day Lily owled him, saying she wanted to meet in the park. There was a new set of swings in place and she was swinging gently on one of them when he walked up.

"Sev!" She approached him with a grin. "Isn't it wonderful?"

He nodded. "I am glad for your sister's safe return. Where is she now? Did she say what had happened?"

"Tuney's resting. Mum said to let her sleep." Lily's eyes were downcast. "She said that she ran away – traced her footsteps back to throw us off, then got on a bus to London. It sounded awful Sev – she said she didn't have a lot of money so she stayed in hostels and it was cold and lonely, she didn't know where to go or what to do, couldn't find any work. There were things she didn't say, but I'm sure there was much more. And she said… she said that she left because she was _jealous_. Jealous and angry." Tears brimmed in her eyes. "That she was mad that you and… and Hogwarts had taken me away from her."

Severus thought there was something unsatisfying about her explanation of the aborted trail leading to the park, but his more immediate concern was Lily's crying.

"Lily," he whispered, "the fact that you are a witch and Petunia is not isn't your fault."

"I know, but… we never included her Sev. We never let he hang out with us, never let her into our world."

"She did not _want_ to hang out with us. She called us freaks, have you forgotten? Besides, you wrote her many letters! And don't you think that might make it worse? Being privy to a world she can never truly be a part of?"

"Please, Sev." She begged. "Couldn't we be a little more inclusive?"

"I understand." He nodded, not happy to think of his time with Lily suddenly interrupted by her sister, but unable to deny Lily something she so dearly wanted.

"I suppose," he conceded. "Was there anything you were thinking of?"

She shrugged. "Just helping her feel not so… on the outside. It will probably be even harder for her now that's she's been out of school. I don't know that she'll be very welcome among the neighborhood kids. They might even tease her." She kicked at the dirt with her trainer. "I was thinking of going to Diagon Alley next week to pick up some summer reading. D'you think we could take her along for that?"

Despite all of his misgivings about what a trip with Petunia to a place like that might be like, he finally nodded.

"Sure."

"Thank you Sev!" She beamed. "It will be lovely, just you wait and see!"


	9. Find Me a Future

_OOO_

_Five Months Ago  
>OOO<em>

"Sorry about that," Petunia whispered. For a change, she was the one apologizing after a bout.

"There's nothing to apologize for, Oleander," Pyro said as he watched Nightcrawler vigorously apply calamine to his face. "You're lucky she didn't do anything worse."

"I didn't know what else to do!" She defended. "He kept vanishing before my tendrils could really grab him and my fighting skills aren't quite up to his level." She chewed her lip a little guiltily. "I used what I had."

"Which is just what you should have done. Besides, it shows just how far you come disciplining your use and applications of the various plant toxins and pheromones in your system. That's quite a good job." Pyro nodded her away. "Go on then. Get along and we'll see if something can't be done about Kurt here," he sighed.

Polaris giggled as she and Petunia went upstairs to where their quarters were.

"Wanda is going to be maaaaaaaaad that you messed up her boyfriend like that."

Petunia shrugged. "When we're supposed to fight, I fight. I would rather have Wanda be mad than St. John disappointed. And anyway, I thought he was going to get the better of me for a while there. I could tell where the punches were going to come from and I wasn't fast enough to catch him. My only option was to cloud myself and try to rub off toxins whenever we came into contact, hoping it would eventually wear him down."

"Well it worked."

"Good thing too – you know wizards can do that. So training against Nightcrawler will help us be prepared."

"What, vanish like Kurt does?"

"Yes," she nodded. "I overheard on of my sister's nasty little friends talking to her about it. They called it apparating. Though as I understood it, wizards don't get to do it until they're older, like driving a car." They came to Petunia's room and took off the bulkier parts of their armor. Petunia put on a record while Polaris kindled the room's fireplace. As part of a castle, it was different than any other place Petunia had lived, but it had only taken a few weeks to put her imprint on it: pink sheets on the led and lacy curtains and posters of Brian May awkwardly stuck to the stony walls.

"Kind of wish I could do that," Lorna said as they sprawled on the flowery bedspread.

"You can fly, though," Petunia sighed, "which I think is even better. And I can't do either."

"Don't underestimate yourself – you're strong, really strong. I've seen it. Father thinks so too, I've heard him talking about you. He says that you and Wanda are the ones in the best position to fight wizards directly."

"Father?" She twisted her head.

"You didn't know? I thought you knew. I'm sure I mentioned it." She flipped onto her stomach. "I'm Magneto's daughter too. Though I'm only a half-sister to Wanda and Pietro."

"Oh."

"It doesn't make that much of a difference though," she sighed. "He's not really one to show a lot of favoritism by blood alone. I mean, you've seen the relationship he has with Pietro. And sometimes I feel like there's even more pressure since I'm the one who got his power."

"I did wonder about that."

"Well, I got the same style of power, but Wanda got the magnitude." She shook her head, making strands of emerald hair fall into her face. "I can make things float, but Wanda… Wanda and my father feel like they could shake the world to its core if they really wanted to."

Petunia paused to consider this. "You're young though. Younger than I am. My power was only manifesting at your age." She sat up and flipped the record. "I'll bet that in another few years, you'll be just as strong as they are."

Lorna smiled. "Thanks, Tuney. And I bet you will too." She grabbed one of the pillows and propped it beneath her chin. "You know, ever since you've come here, I sometimes feel like we have more in common than even Wanda and I do."

"I thought you got along," said Petunia, digging through the drawer of an ornate dresser and coming up with pink, sparkling nail polish.

"We do, it's just… Wanda seems so much _older_. She and Pietro are really close, being twins and all, but I didn't know her growing up, until I was already a few years old. We don't _not_ like each other. We just don't talk much."

She proffered a hand to Petunia who carefully spread polish on, nail by nail. She was careful not to smear it, going slowly with one hand and then the other.

"At least you have a relationship with her. Lily… I'm sure you've gathered that my sister is _not_ my favorite person."

Lorna nodded, puffing on her fingers and shaking her hands to get the polish to dry faster.

"Was it always like that?"

"No. We were actually close when we were younger. Then Lily developed powers and I didn't." Her visage darkened. "And she started hanging out with that Snape boy. He was nasty and insulting and my parents just thought… they thought she was so _wonderful_." Her voice was bitter as she unscrewed the little bottle of topcoat. "That her powers were so amusing and precocious and all they every talked about was Lily, Lily, Lily. I might as well have been a part of the wallpaper."

"Kind of like my father." She held her hands out again. "He spends his time with Wanda because she's the strongest."

"At least he took you with him though." Petunia glazed each nail in turn. "At least you're still part of the same world. Besides," she shrugged. "I'm sure he still loves you."

"I guess." She flipped on her back, holding her freshly painted nails up in front of her. "Sometimes I don't even know what I'm doing here."

"You don't agree with your father?" Petunia quirked an eyebrow as she started doing her own nails.

"Not exactly. I mean, I don't really trust humans that much either." Her arms dropped to her sides. "My mom used to make me dye my hair so nobody would notice. If I hadn't, I probably would have had experiences just like Kurt's or Morty's. And I've heard all of the rumors about registration legislation and the Sentinel Program just like you have."

"So why the hesitation?"

"I just don't know that I'm cut out to fight," she sighed. "I don't _like_ hurting people. Even if they don't like me."

"They'll do more than not like you, though. They'll hurt you." Petunia said solemnly. "They won't even hesitate. A war is coming and you can't opt out of it just because you don't want to fight. The fight will come to you anyway."

"I know." She buried her face in the pillow. "But I don't have to enjoy it," she said, her voice muffled.

"I will get easier," Petunia assured her, "when you have something to motivate you." The image of a boy sneering at her, calling her Muggle as if it were a plague, was fixed in her mind's eye and the praises of her parents echoed.

"I suppose." She took Petunia's hand. "But whatever else, I'm glad you came here. Before it was just me and Tabby and that wasn't much fun at all. I feel like I can tell you anything though. Like you're the sister I would have picked if I got to pick.

Petunia smiled. "I feel the same way."

_OOO_

_Present_

_OOO_

"You're going to love Diagon Alley!" Lily assured Petunia as they piled into the car. "A lot of stuff needs to have magic to work, but plenty of it doesn't. And we can get ice cream at Florian's and look at the brooms and the owls… you're going to _love_ it."

Severus' face was set in a look of clear apprehension, but Petunia smiled warmly at her sister as she got into the passenger seat by her father.

"Sure you're up to it, Tuney?" Her father asked. "This is an awful lot of excitement and you've been through quite an ordeal. I don't want you taxing yourself too much."

"I'm fine." She smiled. "It would actually be nice to get out and do something fun, to forget about everything else I went though."

Lily's face lit up with concern and Severus gave her hand a quick squeeze. Petunia twisted around so he quickly dropped her hand, but the older girl seemed not to notice.

"How was your last semester at Hogwarts?"

"I was very worried about you. But apart from that it was alright," Lily said cautiously. "We started preparing for our O.W.L.s next year. They're our Ordinary Wizarding Levels," she quickly explained. "They're like our O-Levels. We won't take them until the end of next year, but all of our teachers were very adamant that we start studying now."

"That's sensible," Petunia nodded.

"Charms was easy, as always, and Potions." She grinned at Severus. "Sev here is absolutely brilliant at it."

"I don't know if I'd say _that_," he protested.

"But you are! He's even worked on some of his own," she said proudly. "Slughorn – that's our teacher – seemed very proud of us both this year. Oh, don't roll your eyes, Sev, he's a nice man, just a bit… enthusiastic."

"So what do you make potions of?" Petunia dug in her purse for a compact and fussed with her hair while they rode.

"Lots of things! Everybody gets excited about wand work, but a good potion can do just as much. There are potions to make you lucky or to heal maladies or help you sleep – almost anything you could imagine."

"And you're good at those?"

Lily blushed. "Slughorn says that I am. I suppose I have a fair amount of talent." Again she looked at her companion. "Severus is better than I am."

"And you are better at Charms and Transfiguration than I," he smiled.

"Still not better at Transfiguration than stupid Potter, though," she grumbled and Severus grew cross as well.

"Somebody you don't like?" Petunia asked airily.

"Arrogant toerag. Thinks he owns the whole school." She scoffed. "Keeps asking me to go out with him, as if that's ever going to happen."

"He's an insufferable bully," Severus couldn't help adding. "With a whole gang of hooligans just like him that follow him around like a pack of dogs."

"They bully Sev all the time," Lily went on. "I just can't _stand_ them!"

Mr. Evan's chuckled. "Better watch, Lily. Antagonistic relationship like that, you're likely to end up married to the bloke."

_"Dad!"_ Lily cried and Severus paled.

Petunia nodded along, watching the landscape fly by out of the window. "So when you get done with all of your education, what is it that you plan to do?"

"Haven't thought about it much. They'll probably talk about careers sometime fifth or sixth year. But there are lots of jobs – become a potioneer, an auror, work in the Ministry… maybe even teach at Hogwarts, take that Defense post that nobody can seem to stay in." She leaned in towards Petunia. "They say it's cursed!" She whispered before leaning back. "What about you? Do you have plans?" She inquired in a hopeful tone.

"Try to get caught up and finish school, I suppose. Then college, maybe." Petunia shrugged her shoulders to feign indifference.

Inwardly, however, she had never been surer of her path or purpose.


	10. Cloud of Dark and Fear

_OOO_

_Four Months Ago_

_OOO_

"St. John!" Petunia ran down the halls of the castle in the dead of night in a panic, her lacy pink nightgown trailing behind her as her bare feet slapped against the stones. Waking at the commotion, Lorna ran out into the hall as well, catching up to the other girl when a stitch in her side forced her to slow down.

"Petunia, what's wr… oh!" She gasped.

"I need St. John," she panted, panic in her voice. "He'll know what to do. He _has_ to."

"Come on," Lorna whispered, walking ahead but making sure not to touch.

They reached his door and Lorna, finding it locked, pounded. "St. John, you have to wake up! Something's wrong with Petunia!"

"It must be two in the morning," he muttered sleepily, rubbing at his eyes. "Couldn't this have waited until… crikey."

"You gotta _do_ something," Lorna insisted.

"I… I rolled over in bed and something felt weird." Petunia swallowed nervously. "And when I woke up, I was like this."

Barbs, large and small, were poking out of her skin. Thorns of varying sizes were piercing through the flesh, including a particularly wicked looking one at the base of her left palm. They came through her hair, through her arms and legs, nearly everywhere. Holding her arms akimbo, afraid of stabbing herself, Petunia tried to hold still while St. John looked her over.

"Come inside," he sighed.

She obeyed, but felt her panic rise. "Am I stuck like this?" She whispered. Not only did it make her a dead giveaway, she felt like she was in constant danger of inadvertently injuring herself if she so much as lowered an arm.

"Maybe, maybe not," St. John said carefully. "I may have seen something like this once before, but with bone. And those were retractable, so let's not get too worked up just yet. What I'm going to need you to do right now it calm down. Breathe."

"I'm trying," she said, though she could still feel her heart racing.

"It will be alright, Tuney. Really it will," Polaris reassured her.

She nodded. "Okay. Okay. Calm."

As her heart rate slowed, St. John maintained a careful gaze.

"Now, think about the thorns sliding back into your skin. Relax and visualize it. They're part of you so just think about them receding back into your flesh."

She trembled in the cold night air and after a moment, her eyes snapped open.

"It's not working!" She cried in a frantic voice.

"Give it time. Just stay calm. Calm."

"I'm _trying_," she said, feeling on the verge of tears.

"Shhh. It's all right." His voice grew lower. "Just think about them vanishing, going away. It's your body. You can control it. Just focus. Focus and withdraw them."

As she closed her eyes again and stood in the dark, her trembling gradually slowed. Lorna watched as the thorns receded, growing smaller until her skin was suddenly smooth again, as though nothing had ever been there to begin with. Petunia's eyes snapped open and her legs buckled under her, sending her tumbling onto the cold stone floor.

"Tuney!" Lorna cried and caught her before she hit. She slumped over Lorna's arm and struggled to gain her footing.

"Sorry," she murmured.

"It's okay."

"Take her back to bed, Lorna," St. John directed. "It's late and we're all exhausted. We'll talk about this in the morning after we've all gotten some sleep."

"How are you feeling?" Lorna asked as they made their way slowly back down the hall. "Other than being tired. Are you okay?"

"Feel like I might be ill." She shook her head. "It comes and goes."

"Well let me know." She made the hinges on the door swing open with a wave. "Do you need anything, something to drink maybe?" She asked as she slid Petunia into the bed.

"I'm fine." She touched the bedspread, looking at the ragged holes in the fabric where her thorns had torn through. "Although I can't say the same for my bedding. Or my nightgown."

They shared a tiny smile and Lorna rubbed her shoulder.

"Well, if you need me for anything I'm right next door. Do you want me to stay?"

"No, get some sleep," Petunia yawned. "I'll be okay and we'll get this all sorted out in the morning."

"Alright." She stood and quietly padded out of the room. "Night, Tuney."

"Night Lorna."

The next morning, Petunia came down to find St. John making pancakes – an unusual treat, since they normally had cold cereal that Pietro had pilfered from who knew where.

"Thought it might cheer you up," he said with a shrug.

"Thanks."

"They smell great!" Lorna grinned.

"So tell me about last night," he said as he flipped.

"There's not a whole lot to tell. I felt something strange when I rolled over in bed and woke up to find thorns all over my body. I didn't know what to do so I ran to get you." She shrugged and took a plate from him. "Really, that's about it."

"Were you having a dream of any kind? Something that might have upset you, cause your adrenaline to spike?"

She chewed and tried to think. "If there was, I couldn't remember it."

"Petunia!" Morty rushed into the room and threw his arms around her. "I heard something happened last night, that you were screaming! I'm sorry I didn't hear… are you okay?"

"I'm fine, Mort." She forced a smile. "Just had a mutation come up on me."

"Have you tried to do it again?" Asked St. John.

She shook her head 'no.' "I've been afraid that if I make myself thorny again, I won't be able to retract them."

"Petunia. What have I always told you before?" St. John set down a platter of pancakes and crossed his arms.

Pushing a bite around in syrup, she sighed. "That practice is the only way to develop control."

"That's right," he nodded, sitting down with his own plate. "We don't have to try right away if you're nervous, but at some point we will have to address this."

"Be nice if I'd been able to do something to that damn spoon instead of this happening," she grumbled.

"We'll worry about the spoon later. You'll be able to affect it eventually."

"Sometimes I feel like I don't even know what's happening to me. To my body." She shook her head. "Sometimes I feel so _afraid_."

"There's no need to be afraid," Lorna whispered. "Even if you couldn't withdraw the spines, we'd still be there for you."

"That's right," Mortimer affirmed. "I'll always be your friend, no matter how you mutate."

Petunia smiled, but suddenly found it hard to give voice to her thanks. "Come on, let's go for an early morning run."

The three strode out of the room, almost running into Dominic who dominated the whole doorway. He let them pass then looked at Pyro.

"How are they coming?"

"Those three? Alright." He offered the pancakes to Avalanche. "Petunia's still mutating, they're all getting stronger, more in control. Tabitha and Pietro are still running wild, though."

"Hnh." Dom stabbed at the pancakes. "Wanda ought to check him at least."

"Even if she doesn't, the progress the younger ones are making more than makes up for those who aren't doing so much."

Dom nodded. "I hear Petunia changed again last night."

"She's growing thorns now. Could be a very powerful mutation, depending on how strong they are and whether she can do things like barb them with poison. It's not metal or bone, but it will give her an edge in close quarters combat if she gets over her fear and learns how to use it effectively."

"That's good." Dom looked him in the eye. "She may need those skills in the near future."

"I had thought she wasn't meant to be involved for some time."

"Not in the Kelly issue. We will take care of that ourselves. However, that is not the only matter of concern."

"Does he want to see her?"

"Soon. She had best be ready."

_OOO_

_Present_

_OOO_

The Leaky Cauldron was crowded so Petunia had minimal difficulty 'allowing' herself to be separated from her sister and Severus. She pushed her was through down the road to Gringotts and changed the money that she had been given. It would have been enough to make Lily and Severus suspicious, particularly since she'd implied she'd come home because she was running low on money.

With only the goblins to contend with, however, they merely exchanged the stack of bills for a sack of galleons and sickles then let her be on her way.

She reconnected with Lily soon after, in front of a shop selling broomsticks.

"Tuney!" Lily gasped. "Oh thank goodness! I don't know what we'd have told dad if we came back at the end of the day without you."

"Sorry," she said with an apologetic smile. "It's just so… I wanted to see it and when I looked around you weren't there."

Lily grinned. "It's amazing, right?"

"Yes," Petunia said, without lying, looking at the multitude of storefronts around her. "I've never seen anything like it."

"Let's go get ice cream! You'll love it; they have the most _interesting_ flavors." Lily dragged them both towards Florean Fortescue's.

They each got a small bowl and Petunia looked into hers as she ate as a way of avoiding Severus' gaze.

"So do you know what classes you'll be taking next year?"

"All the same as we normally do. We don't start specializing until next year. You can't even take certain classes unless you get certain grades in your O.W.L.S. That's part of why they make everybody so nervous."

"Severus?" A voice in the street spoke up and the three of them turned to see who it was. "Didn't expect to run into… Evans."

"Regulus." Snape said cooly.

"I didn't think I would see you again until school started," Regulus said carefully. "I wasn't aware of the company you kept over break."

Severus bristled and Lily gripped her spoon.

"The company I keep is not your concern," Severus said carefully.

"Regulus!" An irate female voice called.

"Run along then," Snape said in a low voice.

He reddened. "Be seeing you, Sniv," he hissed before turning and dashing off.

"Who was that?" Petunia asked, breaking the troubled silence.

"Regulus Black, he… he's with a bad crowd," Lily said carefully.

"I'm sorry about the interruption, Lily, I didn't think…"

"It's okay, Sev," she whispered.

"Is he friends with that boy you were talking about earlier? Is that why you dislike him so much?" Petunia inquired, licking the last of the ice cream from her spoon.

"He's the brother of one of them. But not like them. He's… he's nasty. His friends are nasty," Lily said without much elaboration.

"Be careful around people like him if you make a habit of coming here," Snape said coldly. "He wouldn't think much of people like you."

"Wouldn't he," she murmured.

Severus could have sworn again that her eyes were flecked with green, but when she turned to Lily and changed the topic of the conversation, all was at it normally was. He swore he was seeing things and went to finish off his ice cream, hoping they wouldn't get any more attention from classmates of his.


	11. Under Your Spell

_OOO_

_Three Months Ago_

_OOO_

"Look!" Petunia laughed, standing in the middle of the loch that was near the castle. "Isn't it amazing?"

Morty thought it was; Morty thought that Petunia was the most amazing girl he'd ever met in his life. She could even walk on water. He knew, of course, that she wasn't _really_ walking on it; there was a submerged plant beneath her feet that was supporting her. But from the shore, it looked that way.

"Wow!" Polaris clapped. "Pyro and Avalanche are going to be really pleased!"

"I know!" Oleander walked across the surface of the water, carefully making sure that she was supported each step of the way. "I've been working on this as a surprise. Still haven't gotten the hang of making that stupid spoon do anything, though," she frowned as she reached the shore.

"You'll do it," Polaris assured her.

"Definitely," Toad agreed.

"And what about you, Polaris?" She grinned as they started back to the castle. "I saw you levitating that car the other day."

"Did you see me drop it right after?" She giggled. "I almost dropped it on Avalanche's head. But it was more than I've ever been able to hold up before."

"Wish I had cool powers like you guys," Toad sighed. "Not just a gross tongue and grosser spit."

"That tongue nearly broke Tabby's neck in practice," Polaris pointed out.

"Yeah, and I got the burns from her explosions to prove it," he winced. "If we were having a real fight she would have killed me."

"If it was a real fight, you never would have been facing her," Petunia said. "Unless all of us were incapacitated or dead, we're not going to let you fight a mutant who can project energy like that. I wouldn't want to fight her. You might have the best shot, Lorna, since you can make shields. But we wouldn't fight stupidly."

"If we fight with wizards, though, won't they all be able to do what Tabitha does?" He asked apprehensively.

"Not if they don't have their wands." She scowled. "Which they will unless I can figure out how to make that damn spoon _do_ something!"

"Well you can still fight really well and there's always Wanda…"

"Shhhh." Petunia cut Polaris off and stuck her arms out to halt both her and Toad.

"What's wrong?" Mortimer whispered, his eyes darting to her.

"There's something in the woods." She narrowed her eyes. "Moving fast. I can't tell what it is though."

"Do you think it's dangero…"

The rustling that had been far off suddenly became a much louder crashing, snapping noise.

"Down!" Petunia cried and a thorny mass of vines sprouted up into a dome around them. A figure leaped over the dome, but they only caught a glimpse before the vines covered them. There were sounds, however, gnashing and snarling as whatever it was attempted to rip apart the vines Petunia had created.

"What is it!" Polaris gasped.

"Quiet!" Keeping her eyes shut, Petunia allowed her thoughts to extend outward into the vines and trees. Her snare was being torn apart, the curare she had tipped the thorns with was not working, and her ability to replace the vines was not infinite; each vine that was torn apart wracked her, however slightly. She crouched on the earth, trying to keep her composure, but she felt at the brink of collapse.

Suddenly a huge figure fell through the top of the vines. Polaris screamed and Toad's tongue lashed out, but the figure caught it in a clawed hand.

"So you're the little mutants Pyro said he picked up."

"Sabretooth," Polaris exhaled, and then stooped to help up the slumping Petunia.

"Not a bad try. But let me give you some advice." He lifted up Petunia's chin and she shuddered, feeling the drag of the thick, sharp nails on her flesh. As he leaned forward in to her face, his greasy tangled hair brushed against her and she could smell his breath, tainted with blood and rotting flesh. "Don't try to use poison against a mutant with a healing factor."

He turned and began shredding his way through the rest of the woods, in the direction of the castle.

"It's okay," Polaris breathed, "he's on our side."

"It's not _okay_," Petunia hissed. "I don't care whose side he was on, we didn't know who he was and he could have been the enemy. I should have _stopped_ him."

She stomped away angrily, the plants around her withering as she went. Polaris went running after, insisting that what she had done was impressive and that it probably would have killed a lot of other mutants.

Toad watched them go, his tongue still smarting, feeling the same as Petunia – that he should have been able to stop it. With no more reason to stay on the ground, he took to the trees and bounded his way back. Inside the castle, Petunia seemed to have already been mollified. He caught sight of them through the window in Petunia's bedroom, looking at a magazine and laughing about something.

He was slightly jealous of Lorna's ability to be at ease around Petunia. Whenever they were together, it all seemed so easy, talking and laughing. But once he was alone, he found that he never knew what to say, felt like everything he could think of was silly or stupid. Clinging to the side of the stone wall, he sighed and let himself fall down, missing the moat by a narrow berth. Avalanche was outside working on the jet and Mortimer approached him shyly.

"Hey, uh," he swallowed.

"Yes?" Avalanche, tall and broad as he was, made Morty feel even smaller than usual, and he found himself crouching, a habit from which he was trying to break himself.

"I was wondering if you could give me a few flying lessons with that thing."

Avalanche looked him over with a critical eye, but then nodded. "Very well. Stay there while I finish this tune up and then we may begin."

They worked at it for almost three hours, Avalanche teaching him all of the ins and outs of the systems operation – how to fly it, how to run the weapons systems, how to use its surveillance capacities – and finally took him up in the sky for a beginning flight. When they found themselves on solid ground once more, Morty stumbled out of the plane, shaky and happy to be on solid ground, but felt a swell of pride when Avalanche clapped him around the shoulders.

"You did very well," he praised.

"Can I have another lesson tomorrow?"

"Of course."

While much of the Brotherhood was absorbed in discussion of Sabretooth's return, including the information he'd gotten on the Death Eaters, Mortimer stayed in his room and went over the schematics that Avalanche had lent him. He wanted to know where everything was and get some idea of how to fix it if something ever got damaged.

Perhaps he wasn't the strongest fighter, but he would make himself useful, he vowed. One way or another, he would show everybody what he could do. Especially Petunia.

_OOO_

_Present_

_OOO_

"Are you sure you'll be alright by yourself?" Lily asked anxiously.

"Don't worry Lily, I'm not going to run off."

"Tuney! That's _not_ funny!"

"I'm sorry. But I'll be fine. I just want to explore a little on my own." She looked at Severus. "And I think your companion would rather I left you two alone also."

Severus made a noise, but didn't speak.

"Alright," Lily sighed. "We can split up and meet back here in two hours. But be careful!" She dropped her voice. "There are a lot of people like Regulus around."

Petunia nodded. "I know."

Then she moved away into the crowd, looking back just in time to see Snape dragging her sister into a store selling potion supplies. Petunia turned her back to them and strolled down the street, taking in the shops as she moved in between the wizards bustling here and there. She felt slightly out of place for not wearing a set of robes, but there were enough people dressed as she was that she didn't stick out.

Towards the end of the street there was a shop with windows full of plants and a name plate reading Shoots 'n' Roots hanging above the door. Going inside, she found it like a greenhouse, air thick with humidity. The scent of the greenery filled her breath, giving her a heady rush, and the plants around her stirred to her presence.

A little witch at the counter smiled when she came in.

"Hello dear! Looking for anything particular?"

"Just browsing."

"Well, do be careful. Some of these plants have a bite worse than their bark," she winked. "The labels will let you know which ones are safest and I'm happy to answer any questions."

Petunia nodded. "Thank you."

She went around calmly, stroking some of the plants as she went. It helped her, she found, if she wanted to manipulate a plant, to touch an actual specimen of it first. The growth always felt more organic and understandable, and she had to think through the process much less. There were so many plants that she knew she would have to return eventually. But for the moment, she contented herself with a dozen or so specimens. She thought of buying a plant, but decided to wait until she had given it more consideration.

Her next stop, after a quick duck into a clothier where she picked up a bag with an extension charm, was Flourish and Blotts. Perusing the section marked _Herbology_, she found several books regarding dangerous plants and their uses. As she weighed which ones to purchase, she heard a familiar voice.

"…but if I don't get a new broom, I won't be the best Seeker! I'll be letting all of Slytherin down!"

"We will _see_ Regulus. Now please, I have business to attend to."

She watched him dart from behind a shelf to the books on Quidditch, the strange sport that Lily had attempted to explain to her in the car. Taking a quick moment to assemble herself and closing her eyes to let the now-familiar pheromones move through her, she browsed her way over to where he was. She hovered for a few minutes to let the scent permeate and then 'bumped' into him.

"Oh! I'm sorry!"

He looked at her. "You're that girl. Who was with Snape."

"That's right." She smiled, laughing so that her breath would escape. "I'm Lily Evans' sister."

She could see his eyes already starting to haze and her smile grew wider.

"I haven't seen you at Hogwarts," he said, curious.

She leaned in, filling the air with her scent as she did. "That's because I'm not a witch," she whispered, before she withdrew.

He looked at her like he was befuddled. "Oh." A blush spread across his cheeks. "You smell very nice."

"It's my perfume," she said, laughing lightly and toying with her hair. "Roses."

He bobbed his head, standing frozen. Then he stuck out his hand.

"I'm Regulus."

"I remember. I'm Petunia." She grasped his hand. "Oh! I'm sorry!" She gasped. "I seem to have nicked you with my nail."

Regulus looked down to see a tiny droplet of blood beading on his palm. "That's alright, hardly a scratch." He broke into a grin. 'I'm tougher than that you know. I play Quidditch."

"Oh? What position do you play?"

"I'm the Seeker," he said, straightening up. "That's the most important position there is."

Her lips curved further upwards. "_Really_."

"Yes! I end the game! And I get a huge amount of points for it. I'm usually the one who makes us win or lose."

"That all sounds _very_ exciting," she grinned. "And I would love to hear more about it. Why don't you send me an owl? And maybe we can meet someplace where you can tell me all about your Quidditch heroics."

She sauntered away to pay for her purchases and rejoin her sister, before she or Snape saw her and got suspicious. There was little more she could do but hope the chemicals took a strong enough hold to be fruitful.

Time would tell.


	12. Think of You Always

_OOO_

_Two Months Ago_

_OOO_

Petunia was sitting at breakfast with Mortimer and Lorna when an owl swooped in through the window. It landed in front of her and she saw that a note with her name on the front was attached to its leg.

"That's my sister's writing," she muttered. "She must be trying to see if I'm truly gone."

With a flick, she bound the bird in vines and a thorn protruded from her wrist.

"Petunia!" Lorna gasped, freezing her mid-stab, thorn pointed precariously at the owl's breast. "What are you _doing!_"

"I need to kill it," she said flatly, "or it will hang around until I take the message and then go back to my sister. They always return, you know. It might be able to indicate to her where I'm at. And it would let her know she should continue to look."

"Okay, so it can't go back. Don't _kill_ it!" Lorna pleaded. "Keep it or something, let it go in the woods, just don't kill it!"

Morty's eyes darted between the two of them. He said nothing, but visibly exhaled when Petunia lowered her hand and withdrew the thorn into her skin.

"Fine. But if it flies away, it will go right back to my sister. Morty, get me a knife."

He obliged her with a blade from the drawer and she used her vines to keep the bird still while she cut off its flight feathers. Then she had the vines become thicker and woodier, curling in their growth until they formed a cage around the bird.

"If you want to take care of it, be my guest." She pushed the cage over to Lorna. "But I'm not going to waste my time feeding that wretched thing."

"What about your letter?" She asked, reaching in to take it off the owl's leg.

"I could care less about it." She immediately tossed it into the large fireplace along one side of the room. Looking at what was left of the eggs on her plate, she dumped them into the trash. "I've lost my appetite. I'm going to go work out."

"I'll join you!" Morty said quickly, polishing off what was left on his plate with a lave of his tongue.

"Guess it's you and me then," Lorna sighed, looking at the owl which gave a mournful hoot. "Come on. Let's find you something to eat."

Petunia retreated to the exercise room and started to work out her frustrations on a punching bag, while Morty worked on the pommel horse. Her fists hit the bag time after time, indenting the same spot, until she was red-faced and dripping with sweat. As she leaned, winded, against the side of the wall, St. John walked in and nodded.

"Good to see you working. But I'd rather see you practicing with your mutation."

"Why's that?" She asked, wiping sweat off with the back of her hand. Morty saw her eyes flashing dangerously and dismounted, unsure of where to move.

"Because it will be more useful. You're physically fit and that's good. But you need to do more. You still haven't managed to get a response out of…"

"SHUT UP ABOUT THE SPOON!" Petunia screamed and everything went quiet. She panted, chest rising and falling in rapid succession. "Just shut up about it! You want to see things grow? You want me to use my mutation! FINE!"

She splayed her arms and gave an earth-shattering scream. Morty had to jump onto the walls and up to the rafters to get out of the way or the vines that were suddenly winding around every surface of the room. More of them covered the castle, spilling in through the windows. Outside the trees cracked and groaned. Flowers bloomed with abandon, sending sprays of perfume and petals into the air, falling like snow around them.

And behind St. John, the door suddenly sprouted leaves and branches that pointed towards St. John in a spiked fashion.

"Now leave me alone!" She gasped and then tore off for her room.

St. John looked at the mass of greenery that had appeared out of nowhere, and turned towards Morty when he dropped down beside him.

"She's having a bit of a bad day, isn't she?"

"Letter from her sister."

"I see."

_OOO_

_Present_

_OOO_

Lorna was practicing a beam exercise and Mortimer was working on the horse when an owl flew in through the window of the castle, carrying a small package. St. John, who until then had been more absorbed in the notebook where he was scribbling ideas for his next romance than in the teenagers in front of him, was suddenly alert and on his feet.

"Is it from Petunia?" Morty bounded over.

"Don't be thick, of course it is. Who else would send an owl?" St. John chastised. "Now get closer. Whatever is in here, you two will probably have some homework inside of it."

"She wrote a letter!" Lorna said, pointing to a small scroll of paper on the owl's leg. "Read it first! Please?" She begged.

"Fine," he sighed. "But I'm only reading it once, so listen up."

_Dear St. John, Morty, Lorna, and everybody, _

_My homecoming has gone smoothly so far. My family has not pressed very deeply into where I was and suspect little, if anything, about my time away. Nor do they seem to suspect anything about my powers. I will keep them hidden, of course, unless circumstances warrant their revelation. _

"Circumstances?" Lorna looked up. "What circumstances?"

"You never know," said St. John. "Now be quiet. I thought you wanted to hear this?"

"Sorry!"

_My trip to Diagon Alley was likewise a success. I have learned so much about herbology in just a short space and already I have managed to grow even magical plants. They should be very useful I am happy to tell you. With this note I have also enclosed a number of books about the wizarding world in general, as well as specific spells that can be used. I do not know how we might defend against them, but I suppose that every bit of information helps. _

_Perhaps the most exciting development, however, is that I have managed to grow acquainted with a member of one of the families Sabertooth spoke of, a young boy belonging to the House of Black. His name is Regulus and he's very close to Death Eaters, though I do not think he is a member of their fraternity just yet. _

_Upon meeting him, I managed to use my pheromones to great effect and he has already agreed to meet me in one of the Diagon Alley cafes for tea. If I use this opportunity to ensnare him further, such a connection may be quite useful and yield valuable information about Voldemort's supporters and his plots. _

"Wait, Regulus?" Mortimer frowned. "Why does she have to go out with some guy? That sounds like a date."

"Oh Christ, not this high school bullshit," St. John groaned. "Petunia is only doing her job, the one that Magneto asked her to do."

"Well I still don't see why she has to _date_ him. Couldn't she get the information some other way?" Morty's voice verged on a pout.

"She probably doesn't even like him," Lorna consoled.

"Well what if he tries something on her?" Morty persisted. "Like a spell. She could be in a lot of danger, letting herself get that close!"

"Petunia can take care of herself!" St. John snapped.

"Well I don't like it!" Mortimer crossed his arms and scowled at the offending piece of parchment.

"Get over it," St. John rejoined.

_I will let you know how my continued interactions with Regulus proceed. Meanwhile, I have tried to keep up with my training as best as I can without making anybody around me suspicious. I go for runs, though I cannot do much more than that, and sometimes I slip away to the park and practice making things grow. Morty – I still visit our tree, and I promise you that it is quite lovely now that it is summer once more. I'm making sure it's in very good health._

Lorna nudged him and he smiled a bit.

_As for the other side of matters, my sister is very open with me but the boy always attached to her, Severus, is let at ease. I do not think he suspects anything specific, but I must be careful never to give him cause to. Close as I seem to be to Lily, he too has her ear and I do not want her guarding her words around me when they could be of so much use to us. For now, there are only rumors of an organization being formed on the other side to combat the fear that the Death Eaters sow, but nothing is certain yet. I will keep on my guard, however. _

_All my best to each of you. I look forward to the day we can join up and be part of the same team again – I am lonely without my own kind around me. Until that day, train hard, be well, and I will keep in touch. _

- _Petunia. _

"Here." Pyro reached inside the bag and passed several books to Lorna. "Start reading. We'll exchange them as we finish."

"Cool! I'm going to start right away!" She exclaimed, dashing off with the _Standard Book of Spells_.

"Guess I'll take whatever," Morty shrugged, grabbing a book about potions from the top of the pile.

"Morty." St. John grabbed his arm. "We need to talk."

"'Bout what," he said, yanking it away.

"Petunia." He forced him to sit. "I know you fancy her. And I'm not telling you this to be cruel. But someone like Petunia… she's just not meant for somebody like you. You're a friend."

Morty was red and trembling, but he managed a whisper. "Why not? Why not me?"

St. John shook his head. "Petunia's a very strong mutant. Probably an alpha. Maybe higher. When we start finding more of our own, when our numbers grow… don't be upset. But there's a world of difference between you and Petunia. Don't look for more when there will likely only be disappointment."

Morty shook his head. "No. No! You're wrong! You're wrong about Petunia and me! You'll see!"

He bounded away and St. John shook his head with a sigh.

Hundreds of miles away, Petunia leaned across the table, stirring in sugar.

"You're not a thing like your sister!" Regulus laughed. "She's so… so…"

"Don't talk about my sister," Petunia murmured. "If you must talk, talk of me."

"I'd rather not talk at all," he suddenly whispered and leaned across the table to close the distance between them.

Their lips met and Petunia smiled in triumph as their breath mingled.


	13. Still Come Back to You

_OOO_

_One Month Ago_

_OOO_

It was a graduation ceremony of sorts, finally getting the opportunity to fight him. She had already bested some of his lieutenants. Mystique had been easy enough to spike and drug to sleepiness, despite her agility, as had Pietro despite his speed and Blob despite his girth. She had learned her lesson against using such a tactic against Sabertooth, but managed to fight him to a standstill by pinning him in a network of tree branches, continually healing but in perpetual agony. Avalanche had made her run, but once she'd gotten him into a tree his powers were nullified. And St. John had started off scorching her painfully, until the oily poison ivy made his smoke more potent against himself than against her.

Wanda was not to be engaged. So there was only one left – the implacable man who stood before her.

Petunia knew she was blushing and it made her want to curse. She should be beyond all that, she told herself. She wasn't a child to be besotted. But even in the way he coolly regarded her, an opponent before the battle, his powerful personality was etched into every line of expression. He was calm and confident, assured of his abilities and certain of what he wished to achieve with them.

It was such a man that she had to defeat.

"Go!" Pyro barked.

Instinctively, Petunia made vines sprout up around her. It was a defensive gesture, but one that serve her well – Magneto immediately ripped a door off of its hinges and sent it hurtling at her. The vines buffered her against the worst of it and she used them to toss the door aside.

"You've done quite well, Petunia." He smiled at her. "You've grown a great deal since we first brought you here."

She bristled; he was toying with her. It was time to go beyond defensive maneuvers.

"Let me show you how much."

Her thorns tore out of her wrists and her vines attempted to ensnare Magneto as he hovered above her. They dragged him down close enough for her to get in an initial swipe, but it clanged against his armor harmlessly and gave him enough time to call a blade to himself from inside the castle to start dismantling her handiwork.

Panting, she righted herself but was confronted with metal shrapnel and forced to return to defensive moves. Again, she allowed large, thick plants to spring up around her, shielding her from the worst of it.

If she couldn't pierce his armor, she thought, she would have to use something he couldn't as easily deflect. Another winding set of vines grew, but these had flowers on them that released a potent scent into the air. He rose above it, however, and she could not make the vines stretch far enough.

"Come, now. You must be able to conquer an opponent who can fly!"

Petunia growled; others like Lorna could fly as well, but she was not as careful or clever as her father, was much easier to induce into flying into traps where she could be entangled and subdued.

Closing her eyes briefly to focus, Petunia felt a massive tree sprout beneath her and grow up into the air at an alarming rate, bringing her suddenly closer to Magneto. He yanked back on them, however, pulling her out of the tree; she kept her hold on the vines and they both went tumbling through the air.

His face was the only exposed part of his skin so she went for that, letting go of any restrain and using her fully poisonous touch to seep into him. Meanwhile, his gauntleted hands had found purchase on her neck and were strangling the life out of her. She sputtered as she tried to maintain contact and loosen herself at the same time.

With Magneto's concentration broken, they tumbled towards the early. Petunia stopped, hurriedly causing a huge and soft bed of flowers and moss to spread out beneath them, making the fall painful but survivable. When they hit, she rolled over on the dirt and before she could stand a boot was on her back.

"Very good," Magneto praised. "I think you are quite ready to become a full member of our forces."

He stepped off and offered her a hand as he had that winter night that she had first seen him. As then, she took it, though her expression this time was more grim and resolute.

"Petunia!" The battle over, Lorna ran to join her side. "You were so good! Wasn't she dad?"

"She was a fine soldier." He patted her on the shoulder. "And will continue to grow stronger."

She nodded curtly; she wished she could have beaten him outright, but against a mutant of his caliber there was no shame in the loss.

"Now that I have seen your power for myself, let us get cleaned up. We have much to discuss."

"I understand." Petunia turned and went back inside the castle, with Lorna and Morty flanking her.

"What do you think he wants to talk to you about?" Lorna mused.

"You could ask him; he is your father."

"I'll bet he sends you on a mission!" Mortimer speculated with a hint of envy in his tone. "Like, a real one, not the ones he's always sending Pietro on."

"Yeah!" Lorna nodded with enthusiasm. "You might even get to take the jet!"

"Maybe." She halted and looked at her two fellow mutants. "But could you two join me when I talk to him."

Lorna smiled and put her hand on Petunia's shoulder to give it a small squeeze.

"Sure thing."

She was in front of Magneto let than an hour later, dressed in her uniform and feeling unaccountably self-conscious. The presence of Lorna and Mortimer next to her was a small comfort, but she was still uneasy under not only Magneto's gaze, but also that of his daughter Wanda and Mystique.

"Oleander." He walked up to her. "I will say it again. You have done well."

"Thank you," she whispered.

"Now I must ask you to do what you promised when you first came her, to serve my Brotherhood in the interests of mutant-kind."

She glanced at her companions who grinned. "What do you want me to do?"

"Return home."

Her stomach dropped and she wondered if she was going to be ill, fearing that she wasn't good enough after all. "What?"

"Don't be distressed. You are still a member of our cohort. However, there is much you could do back in England. St. John told me that your sister is a witch."

"Yes," Petunia said tersely, not trusting herself to elaborate further.

"I want you to use that relationship to find out more about the Wizarding world – both sides of it, as much information as you can gather. Though we may be more inclined towards one side of their squabble than the other, we cannot truly trust either of them. And we must know about what they can do in order to prepare of any inevitable fighting. You have permission to use your powers in your endeavor; just learn as much as you can."

"Of course, sir."

"If we are lucky, of course, they will do some of our work for us and at the end of their conflict, both groups will be sufficiently weakened that our stepping in will be met with little resistance. But we must not count on the amenability of circumstances."

Petunia nodded. "When do you wish me to return?"

"Within the month. That will give you time to prepare. Do not fear, however. We will not be far." He motioned to Wanda who came over and gave her a device.

"If there is ever an emergency, use this to contact us," she said. "In normal circumstances, you may use the owl Lorna has retained if you believe you can do so without suspicion. However, if something truly goes wrong, this will make sure we get your message and come to help."

"I'll keep it safe," she promised.

"One final matter," Magneto spoke again. "My former colleague, Charles Xavier, may pick up on your signature, particularly if you use your powers in your assignment. I have put up precautions around this castle to prevent him sensing our location and when I have battled him, my helmet protects me." He levitated a thick headband from the table over to Petunia. "This is not as comprehensive, of course. But like Polaris' headdress, it should provide some shielding from any psychic attacks he might attempt. If you do encounter him, try not to reveal your connections with the Brotherhood. However, if it is revealed regardless, use the device Wanda gave you to contact us."

"I will."

"If there is anything to discuss further, I will be sure to keep you informed. Otherwise you may go."

With one final, curt nod, Petunia backed away, then turned and hurried out of the room with her companions.

"Oh, Petunia!" Lorna threw her arms around her. "I'm going to miss you!"

"Me too!" Mortimer added, though he only touched her shoulder.

Petunia laughed a little. "I'm not leaving yet!"

"But you will be! Be careful!" Lorna admonished. "You've heard some of what they say about the wizards and what they can do!"

"I'll be very cautious." She hugged back. "Don't worry, I won't get caught."

"You'd better not! Come back to us, safe and sound."

"Yeah," Morty agreed. "You've gotta come back Tuney. Just gotta."

"I will! Promise. Safe and sound just like you said Lorna."

"Good. Now come on! If you're leaving in a month, we've got to spend as much time as possible together now!"

They ran off into the castle, laughing as they went, the gravity of the assignment momentarily forgotten.

_OOO_

_Present_

_OOO_

"It's called the Serpentine Bridge." The boy laughed. "Funny isn't it? Appropriate."

They looked out over the water, the quiet and greenery of Kensington Gardens giving Petunia a peace of mind that she only rarely felt in the confines of her house or the urban congestion of London. Here she could feel the plants as they moved in the breeze, sense them drawing their strength from the earth and it felt like her strength too.

"Why do you say that?"

"Symbol of my house. A snake." He turned to her. "I know how you feel you know."

"How do you mean?" She asked carefully.

"About your sister." He leaned on the stone rail, crossing his arms and setting his chin on them as he looked out over the water. "I have a brother like that, except he's older not younger."

"Lily mentioned him," Petunia remembered. "Started with an 'S'?"

"Sirius. He's nothing like my parents raised us to be. But sometimes I think they still care about him more. They're more concerned over his disobedience than they are happy that I'm trying to be the good child, the one they always wanted."

"Parents are strange," she agreed quietly. "And siblings an annoyance."

"I only wish I could make them proud. I've even agreed to…" He trailed off.

"Agreed to what?" She prodded carefully.

"There's this group that my parents are very much in agreement with. I'm still young but I've thought of joining."

"The Death Eaters," Petunia supplied and he paled.

"You know about them?"

"I keep my ears open." She turned to him. "Are you a member yet?"

"I haven't taken the Mark. I've been around a lot, though. To some of the meetings, talked to people who are already members" He straightened up and put his hand over hers. "But I'm not sure I want to. You know?"

"We must all do things we don't wish."

"I guess." He shook his head. "I thought Snape was with us too, but he's so close to your sister, I don't know anymore."

"They don't like people like my sister, do they?"

"Mudbloods? No." He shook his head vehemently. "They're going to destroy our world if we let them in. It's for our own good," he parroted, though there was a certain dullness to his words, a lack of conviction that Petunia noted.

"And if they wouldn't like a witch like Lily, what must they think of someone like me?" She teased, pressing to see how he might react.

His gaze was confused. "You're _different_," he said softly. "Somehow. Even if you're not a witch."

She laughed. Behind her back, she generated a flower and tucked it into his hair.

"You're sweet. But I have to get home."

"Just a little longer?" He pleaded.

"I suppose." She let him take her hand and they strolled around the trees, across the wide and sloping lawns of the park.

It was enough for one night, she though. Gradually was best, so as not to arouse his suspicions or press the limits of her own powers too far, too fast. There would be time enough for him to spill more secrets, of how they operated and what they were intending, for the wizarding world and otherwise.

Besides, she thought, it was rather nice to simply stroll, to relish the closeness to the plants around her, without worrying too much about anything else. The trees quivered as she passed and the flowers bloomed a little more, turning their blossoms ever so slightly in her direction.

It was rather gratifying.

Far away, the sun was setting over the tops of the trees and a figure was perched high atop the battlement of a castle nestled in a forest.

"She's not coming back yet." Lorna floated next to Morty.

"I know." He crossed his arms. "I'm not stupid. She just left. She's not gonna be back this soon."

"She will come back, though. She promised us."

"Yeah." He jiggled a stone loose and threw it into the forest, making several birds fly up from where it struck.

"Is this about what Pyro said?"

"You heard?" He turned to her, moping/"

"Just a bit. But I could guess." She hovered lower and sat next to him. "You really like her, don't you?"

"She's my best friend," he whispered. "No offense," he added quickly. "Until I met Petunia, I was alone. I didn't think there was anybody else like me. She stepped in when I was getting picked on. I never thought I was worth _anything_. But she introduced me to Pyro, trained with me, and told me I was good at something. And then we found our way here. It was just a summer, but before her, before _this_…" He stopped as his voice sputter with emotion.

"It's alright." Polaris draped an arm around him and gave him a hug. "You're here now. And sure Boom Boom plays tricks sometimes and Pietro too. But you've got all of us now, my family and St. John and Dominic and everybody. And you _are_ special. Petunia will see that."

"I don't know," he murmured, his eyes wet and red.

"Come on!" She stood, floated and held out her hand. "I'll take you flying! That will cheer you up! And then when Petunia gets back – don't you worry, it's all going to work out."

"Maybe." He still looked like he doubted her, but he took he hand and scrambled on to her back, holding on as they skimmed over the treetops.


	14. Leave You All Behind

_OOO_

_One week ago_

_OOO_

"I'm finally going home." Petunia looked up into the night sky, dark and quiet, the moon hovering behind a cloud. "Tomorrow I'm going home."

"We're going to miss you so much." Lorna felt for her hand. "It won't be the same without you."

"You will write, won't you?"

Petunia laughed. "For the millionth time Morty, yes, I'll write. I have to anyway. Status reports." She looked over at them and smiled. "But I would write even if I didn't have to give an account of what I was doing."

"Do you think your sister will be happy to see you again?" Lorna wondered.

"Knowing Lily? Probably," she scoffed. "Stupid girl still thinks we can be friends. After leaving me behind, after monopolizing our parents' attention, after everything. St. John told me she thinks I'm dead so I wouldn't be surprised if she passes out to find that I've come home."

"Well you can punch that boy she hangs out with right in the mouth from me," Morty declared.

"I'll do what I can."

"Do you think they'll be suspicious?"

"Suspicious, probably not, unless I give them a reason to be. They'll be curious though. I've already worked out some plausible lies."

"Well that's good, I guess."

They lapsed into silence, stretching out on the castle roof in the quiet darkness.

"I think I will miss the forest very badly," Petunia mused, breaking the silence. "Maybe the most after all of you. I used to thing that our yard was very green. But it's nothing compared to this."

She closed her eyes and felt the forest, felt its extent and the wind that wrapped its way through the branches and the hundreds of feet and wings that brushed the trees and the forest floor. Her blood ran warm at the feel of flourishing life all around her. Old and majestic, tapping into the ancient trees made her feel a part of something much larger than herself.

"You'll think I'm crazy, but I think the forest will miss you too, Tuney."

"I don't think that sounds daft," Morty added. "I think it will too."

"As much as you will?" She teased.

"Never!" Morty declared in a resolute tone.

She smiled again and stood, walking to the parapet to look out at the forest.

"This forest is so old. I can hardly imagine the things it has seen. This castle too." She ran her hands over the crumbling stonework and looked at her fellow mutants who had joined her at it. "Sometimes I wonder who built this place. Where they went. How they died."

"Had to have been ages ago," Lorna speculated.

"I wonder," she repeated. "Come on, let's go inside. It's getting cold out here anyway and we should all be asleep."

The next morning, Petunia prepared for her flight home. It took much less time than she'd anticipated. She washed up but didn't bother with much else – she had to look travel worn. There wasn't much to take either; for her story to be believed, it had to appear as though she had traveled lightly, bringing only what she could carry. She had to leave behind all of her posters, the books she'd gotten in the intervening months, the clothes and cosmetics she'd shopped for with Lorna.

"But it doesn't matter, you'll be coming back!" Lorna said, hugging Petunia as tightly as she could on her way out of the room.

"I know." She paused at the doorway, looking at the stone boudoir that she'd made her own over time.

When they came downstairs it seemed like half the castle was waiting for them.

Waiting to say goodbye to her.

Morty was first, waiting at the base of the steps to jump on her and nearly knock her over.

"I'll think of you, all the time!"

"Me too, Morty. Every time I visit one of our places, I'll think of you."

"Be careful out there," the huge man she'd seen the first day rumbled.

"I will Freddie!" she said, trying to wrap her arms around him but not even making it half way around.

"Take care. Do not put yourself in too much danger. And if you do, call. We'll come."

"Of course, Dom. I know."

"It has been a pleasure to train vith you." The blue mutant smirked. "Even if you usually got the better of me."

"Thank you Kurt!"

"Remember, if my brother shows up, he's nothin' to be afraid of. Keep your head on straight and don't fall for any of his smooth talk."

"Don't worry, Cain, I won't."

She moved through each in turn until the end, when all that was left was St. John.

"Come on, Petunia. Let's fly."

She slid into the co-pilot's seat, using the need to focus on the flight as an excuse for her unsettled silence. When they were outside of her home town, however, the moment could be delayed no longer.

"St. John," she said softly. "You took me from here. Taught me who I really was. Showed me how to be strong. I… I can't thank you enough…"

"No need. All the thanks we want is a job well done and a team member safely returned." He grinned at her in the garish way he had the first day they'd met. "I'm going to miss you little sheila. Take care."

She squeezed his hand fiercely then dropped out of the ship and began walking towards town. Turning to wave goodbye, she saw it disappear as he activated the cloaking device. When she continued walking, she felt the telltale buffets of wind that meant the ship had taken off. St. John was headed back to the castle and she was by herself.

Once again, she was alone.

The thought made her stomach twist itself into knots. Perhaps he wasn't far away yet, perhaps she could call him back and tell him that she was refusing the mission. But she couldn't do that either, couldn't stand to let everyone down.

Arriving at her house, she arranged her face into a suitably chagrined expression and knocked at the door.

_OOO_

_Present_

_OOO_

Petunia came in quietly, closing the door carefully behind her with a click.

"Tuney!" She sighed.

"Hi Lily. What are you doing here?"

"Waiting up for you!" She hovered in the hallway. "I was really worried!"

"It's fine, Lily." Petunia shrugged off her jacket. "I was just out, with a boy."

"Really?" Lily's eyes suddenly lit up. "You found somebody?"

"Maybe. It was a first date, but it went well," she said carefully.

"Who was it? Somebody from your school? Have you talked to anybody?"

Petunia smiled. "It's a secret."

For a moment, Lily looked abashed. "Oh. Okay. Well, I mean, I guess that's alright. But if you want to tell me…"

"Good night Lily." Petunia retreated up the stairs and into the sanctuary of her room. She settled beneath her covers with one of the books she'd bought at Diagon Alley, looking at the pictures and descriptions of each plant, thinking of how they could be used.

She extended her sense outward, felt for the plants outside. But as expected, they were muted, cultivated and clipped, so unlike the wild forest she'd grown used to.

Sullenly, she set aside the book and turned the lamp off, hoping to fall asleep quickly. But before she did there was a tapping at the window. Clicking the lamp on again, she saw an owl hovering in the window, a note on its leg. Quickly, before anybody saw, she let it in and took off the note.

_Got the books. Miss you. _

- _Morty and Lorna. _

There were little hearts drawn around Lorna's name and Petunia smiled as she sent the owl off to wait in the woods.

"Miss you too," she whispered, and tucked the note into her drawer before going back to bed and dreaming of gardens and bowers and slow winding rivers.

_OOO_

"Still moping around here?"

Lorna lifted herself off of Petunia's bed and sighed at the girl in the doorway.

"Go away Tabitha." She flipped over and buried her face in the pink ruffles of the pillow. "I want to be alone."

"No can do." She strode it and pulled the pillow out from underneath Lorna's head. "Pietro is worried about his little sister being all out of sorts. So he gave me the keys to one of the cars and we're going to have a girls' night out at a discotheque."

"Give that back!" Lorna snatched at the pillow. "And I don't want to go anywhere."

"You'd rather stay here and be bored? Petunia's not around so you can't hang out with anybody, is that it?"

"You were never interested before!" Lorna followed her movements, grabbing ineffectually as Tabitha held the pillow above her head.

"Well I am now. Call it a favor to Pietro. Besides, even since Toad quit reacting to anything I do and running off to go pout in the forest instead, this place has been lame. I want to go have some fun and I'm not going to take no for an answer."

"I tried having fun, with Morty. I only got upset too." Lorna finally levitated and swiped the pillow out of the other girl's hands. "I can't go, anyway," she said crossly. "I'm not old enough. And my hair. I've got nothing to dye it with."

"Oh please." She rolled her eyes. "You're only a few months shy of sixteen. I'll get you in. And don't worry about your hair. We'll put a little leather and glitter on you, and you can just tell everybody you're into the glam scene." She grinned like a maniac and produced one of her explosives in the palm of her hand. "Or you could stay at home and try to guess where I put the bombs."

"Fine!" Lorna threw the pillow onto the bed and stormed off towards her own room. "But I think this is a really bad idea!"

Two hours later they were speeding through the German countryside. Tabitha was wearing more makeup than Lorna had ever seen her put on in her life, even more than she'd smeared on her, and was puffing on a cigarette with one hand while she steered with the other.

Lorna squirmed uncomfortably in the passenger's seat, trying to inch down the skirt. Despite the fact that her battle suit was more or less a swimsuit with boots, she felt more exposed than she ever had in her life.

"I look stupid," she grumbled, looking morosely at the sun sinking below the trees, wondering what the time was where Petunia was at.

"You look fine." Tabby blew smoke that was immediately whipped away by the wind. "You need to get out more. This is the way people dress these days, you know. It's not the fifties anymore. Or the sixties for that matter."

"I'm wearing way too much makeup."

"You are not. And don't touch it, you'll make it smudge." The car they're driving is red and sleek, and when Tabitha rolls down the streets of a small town, passersby on the street turn and look at it with surprised and jealous glares. They pulled into a parking space in front of a building and even from outside Lorna could hear a heavy beat.

"That sounds really loud," she said doubtfully.

"Of course it's loud." Tabitha rolled her eyes. "It's a club. Now come on and quit being a killjoy! Try and have some fun for once."

At the door, Tabby presented their IDs, though Lorna had no idea where she'd gotten the one for hers, and they were waved in by the bouncers. The moment they were through the door, a wall of smoke and sound hit Lorna full in the face, making her cough.

"I'm going to get us some drinks!" Tabitha shouted in her ear over the pumping sound system. "Anything specific you want?"

Lorna shrugged and watched Tabitha disappear into the crowd of people. She leaned against the wall and watched the people dancing on the floor, hoping she would blend in, even despite her hair and outfit.

Tabitha muscled her way to the front of the bar.

"Two Bitburgers!" She ordered, holding up fingers in case the bar tender only spoke German.

"Pilsner? Girl after my own heart!" A voice next to her said.

She turned to see a tall, dark boy standing next to her. His mussed black hair was falling into his eyes, sparkling with amusement and mischief, and his features were smooth and well sculpted. Tabby smiled.

"Guy like you, it's not your heart I'm after," she teased.

His expression widened then he smirked right back. "So I take it that second beer isn't for another gentleman? Can you handle that much on your own?"

"It's for a friend!" She took a sip of her beer. "Girls night out."

"Well what do you know, I came with a friend too." He leaned in, baring more of his teeth in an ever widening smile. "You two should come over and meet him."

She nodded. "Alright then. You help me find my friend and then we'll find yours. If your friend's as cute as you, this could be a good thing. She could use the company, she's been all out of sort."

"Same with my pal! Girl he likes won't go out with him, hangs around some git instead, so he goes all _Young Werther_ on me. Dragged him on vacation here hoping he could meet somebody, take his mind off it, but all he wants to do is sit at the table and mope."

"Well we'll have to do something about that. Lorna!" Tabitha finally made it to the wall where Lorna was. "Right where I left you. Here." She jammed the beer into her hand. "Now come on."

"Where are we going?" Lorna gasped as she tried to hold on to the beer with one hand while Tabitha grabbed the other.

"I met a boy and he's got a friend," she said, nodding towards the guy she'd met. "So come on, let's have some fun!"

Lorna sighed but left herself be dragged along by the two to a table on the other side of the bar.

"James! Check it out! Look at this find pair of birds I found just wandering the club." He planted his drink down with a thump, making his friend look up. "I'm sorry, I haven't introduced myself. I'm Sirius, and that unhappy young man right there is James."

"Tabby and Lorna," the blond said as she slid in the booth.

"Hi." Lorna waved timidly. The second boy looked up at her from behind round glasses.

For a moment he froze. Across the table, the other pair smirked. "Hi."

"Oooh. Mission accomplished I'd say," Sirius whispered to Tabitha as Lorna sat down.

She laughed and took another drink then winked at Lorna.

"Told you this was a good idea."


	15. Take Me Back to Yours

_OOO_

Petunia woke up to find her parents and sister already awake and at the table. They didn't hear her come down the stairs, so she stopped for a moment to take in the tableau – a picture perfect family, happy and content, complete without her.

"Petunia!" Her mother was first to notice her. "Come on and sit down. Lily says you had a date last night."

She gave Lily a sour look.

"I met a boy in town. But I don't know if he's really my type."

"Ah, well, you've got time yet. You girls grow up so fast – but you don't have to make it too fast! Would you like some eggs, darling?"

'Yes, please."

She poured herself juice while her mother cracked eggs at the stove. When she sat down, Lily leaned over the table towards her.

"I'll probably be going down by the river to see Sev later. Do you want to come?"

The river was peaceful and green and closer to the forest than anything else near the town. However, despite the temptation, Petunia shook her head.

"No. I should try to catch up on the months of school I missed so I can take my O-levels." Lily's hopeful expression crumpled. "You'll have more fun without me anyway."

"She's right," her father said gently. "You know, I hear they've changed the grading system for those."

"I'll be part of the new system," Petunia said, taking the plate of eggs and toast from her mother. "But it shouldn't make too much difference."

"Will you go on?" Mrs. Evans asked as she started washing out the pan.

"Still haven't decided."

They hadn't talked much about employment in the Brotherhood. St. John had his writing, but as far as she could tell, none of the others had any type of steady employment. Working for mutant rights _was_ their occupation. And as part of them, it would be hers too.

Still, she wondered if it wouldn't be best to cover all her bases. To make sure that, should something happen, she had enough education to care for herself.

"I was thinking of going for an A-level in biology," she said suddenly.

Her father's eyebrows shot up. "Biology? _Really?_ Didn't think you fancied science all that much, to be taking an A-level in it."

"Just a thought," she murmured.

"I'll bet you'll be just great at it Tuney," Lily smiled. "May I go now mum?"

"Of course dear. Run along. And say hello to your friend for me."

With Lily gone, Petunia quickly tried to finish. Her parents had been nothing but bright around her, for the most part acting as though her absence had never happened and acting concerned and doting when they did. The steadfast refusal to discuss it – or discuss why she had left in the first place – was strange. She did not want to explain herself or get into any conversations that might expose her, but she felt almost offended that they didn't inquire.

Didn't they want to know what had driven her to run? Were they afraid to find out, as well they ought to be? Didn't they care where she went? Did they think her that fragile that any discussion of it would cause her to have a fit or to burst into tears?

She wanted to yell and start a fight and accuse them of every betrayal that her heart meditated upon and grew bitter over. Thought of the mission sealed her mouth, however. She was to be good, for now, the dutiful daughter, the kind sister, the sweet girlfriend.

Unwind enough rope for everybody to hang themselves.

"I'm done also." She pushed her plate away and her mother picked it up.

"You can go too, then, and come down when you're ready for some lunch."

Hurrying to her room, she locked the door behind her to prevent any unwanted intrusions, in case she decided to experiment. If her parents asked, she decided she would simply say that she wanted quiet and privacy to keep her focus. Opening the books from Diagon Alley, she continued the arduous tasks of memorizing each wizard plant, what they looked like, what they did, how they could be used. Some of the plants were already familiar to her, common flowers with wizarding uses. But some were truly exotic, with fascinating effects that she wondered if she could replicate.

Devil's Snare, for instance, sounded like a vast improvement over the normal vines that she had to concentrate on animating. There were special mandrakes too, different from normal, that could render a person unconscious. Other plants could spray venom or attempt to devour people whole, like smaller plants might absorb insects.

She felt her old excitement at her power and the thought of the wizarding world return afresh. It was easy to get lost in the pages of the book, so much so that she didn't recognize the tapping at the window until it had been going for some time.

Regulus' owl was outside and she quickly let it in, hoping that her parents or the neighbors weren't aware of it. It gave an offended hoot when the window finally popped open.

"I didn't know you were there!" She protested as he took the note of its leg.

It still glared at her, making her feel sheepish as she sat on her bed with the letter.

_I had a lovely time last night. I was wondering if you would like to go out again. _

- _Reg_

Short and to the point, she thought. But she wasn't in this for the romantic flourishes.

_Of course! Let me know where you would like to meet me._

- _P_

They had agreed to a severely shortened version of her name when they corresponded, to make sure that if his parents (or anybody else, he had said in a suggestive tone) read their letters, they wouldn't be aware of who it was.

He wasn't such a bad chap, Petunia thought as she sat back down to her book. He seemed rather weak-willed and she was sure that he wouldn't care for her at all if he was acting under his own volition. But he was handsome and pliable.

A girl could do worse.

_OOO_

It was taking Lorna a long time to work through her first beer, sipping and making light conversation with James. Tabitha, however, wasn't taking nearly as long – the table was already beginning to be littered with bottles and glasses. She and Sirius were up and down from the table, dancing to sounds and fetching more rounds.

"So what are two ladies like you doing in Germany? I didn't think I would find anybody else who spoke English out here." He started pouring from a pitcher while they caught their breath.

"We're from America. Backpacking. On vacation," she lied facilely.

"Cool! My family has an old place out here that my Uncle Alphie owns. I dragged James out here to cheer him up and have some fun."

"What kind of fun are you looking for?" Tabitha smirked.

"All kinds."

Their lips suddenly met and Tabitha starting sliding into his lap.

"Wow. Your friend works fast." Lorna snatched glances, but mainly tried to look away.

"So does yours," James remarked, taking another swig of beer. "So if you're backpacking, where have you been?"

"Here and there," she shrugged.

"What do you like better? Europe or America?"

Before Lorna could answer, Tabitha jumped op.

"Come on, I love this song!"

"You say that every other song!" Sirius laughed.

"Just get out there and bump with me!"

"They look good together," Lorna mused, watching them move in and out underneath the flashing lights.

"You look good too." He lifted his hand up to brush at her hair. "I've never seen green hair on a girl before. Well, not _permanently_ green that she wanted to be that way."

She could feel herself blushing. "I, uh, like the glam scene. So I dye it."

"Well I think it makes you look fab." He grinned. "You know, I never fancied the color green when I was growing up until I saw a fantastic pair of green eyes."

"And now that you've seen a lovely head of green hair?" She spoke suddenly, thinking she sounded more like Tabby than herself.

"I don't know," he laughed. "I might have to change my opinion of the color altogether. You want to dance too?"

"I can't dance very well," she protested.

"Don't worry about that, it's my job to lead anyway!" He dragged her out onto the floor. 'Not even that hard, really. Just shake a little, do a few moves with your arms… there you go!"

Lorna laughed, stumbling a bit as she tried to get into the rhythm. "Like this!"

"Sure, it's fine! Just go with it!" James grinned and swung her. Across the floor he saw Sirius and Tabitha point and gave them a quick wink.

The other couple stayed out on the floor, but James and Lorna made their way back after only a song.

"That was fun!" She drank. "I've never done anything like that before!"

"What, dancing?"

She nodded. "I'm a little shy. Kind of a homebody. "

"Well you're backpacking through Europe now." He gave her a friendly nudge. "It's an adventure! Stretch your limits, cut loose a little!"

"Yeah, I guess." She nodded.

"You've got to be brave in this life. Have fun, be adventuresome. Otherwise, what's the point? My mate and I over there are always doing crazy stuff. And sure, sometimes we cause a mess and we've gotten into a hell of a lot of trouble more than once. But we had a lot of laughs and now we've got some great memories. _Totally_ worth it."

"Really? Like what?"

"Oh, lots of things. All kinds of pranks, exploring places we were told not to go, doing things we should have with people our parents didn't approve of…" He chuckled. "But we never got into a scrape we couldn't get out of."

"Sounds exciting." She finished the last of her beer and pushed it aside.

"It was. Want me to get you another?"

"Sure."

Three more bottles were empty in front of her and she found herself becoming increasingly gregarious by the time Tabitha and Sirius made their way back.

"Whew! What a workout!" Tabitha laughed.

"Did you kids behave while we were gone?" Sirius teased.

"Better have." Tabitha grabbed a bottle off the table and drained what was left. "Because I'm about to do enough misbehaving for two."

"So where are you ladies lodging?" Sirius said carefully.

"Oh, anywhere." Tabby eyed him sharply. "Crashing with friends. Why?" She leaned into him. "You got an idea where we might be staying?"

"Maybe. Care to top the evening off at my place? We've got some great artwork there."

"I'll just bet."

"Sirius…"

"Relax James. Come on."

"Tabby…" Lorna said uncertainly, until Tabitha shot her a look that clearly said 'shut up' in no uncertain terms.

"Come on, let's go." Tabitha jerked her head.

"We came on a cycle, but it can only fit two." He looked at James. "And sorry, mate, but if it's all the same…"

"Here." Tabby fished in her pocket and tossed James the keys. "Scratch it and you guys are dead."

"You go on, I'll settle up the tab." James said.

Lorna waited by the car until he came out. It was pitch black and the night air was cool and clean, a welcome difference from the hot, smoky club.

"You ready?"

"Yeah." Feeling hazy, she slid into the seat. As James started it up, she closed her eyes and let the wind rush over her.

"Are you feeling okay?"

"Just a little dizzy." She laughed. "That was fun."

He smiled. "I think so too."

They pulled into the front drive of a house that would have been enormous to Lorna back when she was living with her mother, though it was not nearly the size of the castle.

"Posh, right?"

"Very."

They went in and James led her to a huge sitting room with an overstuffed couch. She kicked off the high heeled boots and fished inside her purse, wiping away some of the makeup with a tissue while James went off into another room. He came back with a tall glass.

"Here." He paused. "Don't worry, it's just water. So you don't have a hangover in the morning."

"Thanks." She sipped. "So why didn't you like green as a kid? I thought most boys liked greens and blues."

He chuckled. "Silly, really, I guess. But at the school I go to, we have these things called houses, and they all have their own colors. My family's been in one house, Gryffindor, and their color is red… are you alright?"

Lorna sputtered in the middle of a swig and coughed before staring at James. "Um. Uh. Yeah. Just went down the wrong pipe."

"Okay now?" She nodded. "Well, like I was saying, we have this rivalry with the really obnoxious house, Slytherin, and their color is green. So I didn't really like it. But other than that, it's a really lovely color. Obviously."

He smiled at her, but she could hardly hear him over the pounding in her ears. Taking breaths and trying monumentally to keep her hands steady, she finished off the class.

"Do you, uh, have a bathroom where I could wash up?" She asked quietly.

"Sure. Down the hall." James pointed.

She padded carefully, measuring her breaths. She had to find Tabitha. She had to find her and they had to leave. They had to…

"Tabby!" She opened the bathroom to find Tabitha there, dressed in a black negligee and putting on a coat of lipstick.

"Like it?" She grinned. "Says one of his cousins left it here. Looks pretty good on me, don't you think?"

"Tabby, we have to go," she whispered, closing the door behind her.

Tabitha's face darkened thunderously. "Oh no. Hell no. I'm going to enjoy myself for one night and I am not going to back out now because you're freaked out by this!"

"Tabitha, they're _wizards!_" She hissed.

The other girl froze, taken aback. "What? Are you sure?"

"James mentioned being in a house called Gryffindor and not liking Slytherins. Those are the houses in that _Hogwarts, a History_ book Tuney sent! I'm positive!"

Her eyes sparkled. "Good. Even better."

"_What?_"

"What, you think your precious Petunia is the only one who can snoop around? That Magneto's new darling is the only one fit to go on a reconnaissance mission?" She leaned in and growled. "You think Pietro and I don't get a little tired of getting pushed aside all the damn time, never doing anything right?" She turned back to the mirror and fixed her hair. "If they're wizards, this is _our_ chance. So either hang out with James and listen hard or keep your trap shut. Because I'm going to do this, like it or not."

Finished, she stormed out of the bathroom, leaving Lorna alone. Sighing, she found a washcloth in a closet and wiped off the remains of the day. There was a knock at the door.

"Are you decent?"

"Yeah." She tugged it open and found James there, holding a pile of folded fabric.

"Got you something to sleep in. Don't worry; it's not like what Sirius gave your friend."

She forced a smile. "You know about that?"

"He came down for a bottle of wine and the chance to gloat." He stepped back. "If you get changed, I can show you to a guest bedroom.?

"Thanks."

Twenty minutes later, she was settled in an incredibly luxurious bed, staring at the ceiling in the dark and wondering what she was supposed to do now.


	16. Deeper Must Hide

Tabitha leaned into the sputtering hot droplets of the shower, letting the steamy water wipe away all of the smudges of the previous evening. Her head ached just a little, but she felt calm and easy, like some of the relentless energy which built up inside her and burst through her fingertips had finally been burned away. Wrapping her hair in a towel and her body in a robe, she came out to find Sirius still sleeping. With a laugh, she pounced onto the bed, shaking him awake with her jump.

"Don't you ever run out of energy?" He yawned as she bounced, then flopped onto the pillows next to him.

"Nope. Now come out. Let's get some breakfast and then take your cycle for a ride."

Stealing more clothing from his absent cousins, she dressed while he showered. They padded quietly down the stairs to the kitchen, running into neither Lorna nor James as they walked through the halls.

"Probably still sleeping," Sirius said as he blobbed marmalade onto his toast. "James and I sleep super-heavy. Sometimes we even miss class. I would have never have gotten up if you hadn't woken me."

Tabitha grinned with her own piece of toast in her teeth. "Say, can you make some coffee? I don't know what kind of weird German coffeemaker you have, but I couldn't get it to work."

Sirius' eyes widened. "Oh yeah, sure, I'll make some."

"Good. I take mine black with tons of sugar."

Within half an hour, they were on the road again. The wind dried the last traces of dampness from Tabby's hair and blew it back behind her, getting tangled as it did. She held on tightly, laughed as Sirius leaned into corners and weaved between traffic. He took them on a winding path further up one of the nearby mountains and they eventually found themselves at an isolated pull-off.

"Really nice up here," she sighed. "You're lucky to have such generous relatives."

"I guess," he shrugged. "I don't get along with most of them to be honest."

Tabitha nodded. "I know what you mean. Growing up, I was always in trouble at home, at school… I went to a boarding school once too, you know. Got kicked out though."

"Kicked out? What did you do?" Sirius laughed.

"Blew up my room. Maybe also stole some stuff. Got into a fight with this girl Kitty… it's a long story."

"You blew up your room?" He grinned. "Even James and I never did _that_."

"It was an accident! Mostly. So what's the school you guys go to like? Sounds pretty – what's the British word for it – posh, or whatever."

"It's… it's a pretty cool place." His hand slid over hers. "But I didn't think we came up here to talk about school."

She knew she needed to steer the conversation back in the direction of what he did at school, needed to prod him into spilling something about the secret world that his kind so jealously and secretively guarded. But his lips moved over hers and she reassured herself that she had time to spare; that she was only young once and needed to enjoy herself while she had a chance.

"Well," he spoke when they finally pulled away, "I'm glad I got at least _one_ kiss I'll be able to remember the next morning."

Leaning in, she pressed her mouth to his again. "Hope you'll remember for a lot longer than _that_."

Time ticked away while the wind howled around them until they climbed back on the bike to speed through more of the rough-hewn countryside.

_OOO_

Lorna woke to a silent house and was in the process of pouring herself some cold coffee when James walked in.

"Oh!" She gasped and nearly dropped the mug, splashing coffee onto the floor.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you. Here, let me get that."

She set the mug down while he toweled off the floor and forced herself to sit and nervously nibble leftover toast.

"I guess Sirius and your friend are already gone." She nodded. "Did you see them?"

"No, I just got up. He left a note, thought." She passed him a jam-smeared piece of paper.

"James – went cycling. Back later. –S. Well that was brief." He peered at the cold coffee balefully. "This is like ice. I'll make some fresh."

"No, it's fine, really." She picked at the toast, ripping it into pieces and eating them bite by bite.

"You sure? I could make you something else instead. We have tea too."

"Well, I guess… tea would be nice."

"Do you like Earl Grey?"

She nodded. "That's fine."

"You're still nervous." James frowned. "Don't be. I'm an okay bloke, really. Isn't there anything I can do to make you more comfortable?"

Lorna shook her head. "I… no it's… it's fine." She exhaled slowly and took the mug of tea he offered. "I guess – maybe I could use something to wear? All I really have is this plus the clothes I wore to the club last night." She wrinkled her nose, thinking of the smoky, short outfit.

"I could try and find something." He sat down across from her at the small breakfast table, taking his own piece of toast. "Well, knowing Sirius, they're going to be gone for a while. Is there anything you would like to do?"

Lorna felt her mouth go dry .It was an open opportunity if she had ever seen one, a chance to press a little further.

"This is a really beautiful house. Could you give me a tour?" She asked, widening her eyes and hoping that she sounded relatively innocent.

The traces of a flush tinged James' cheeks. "Sure, well, some parts of it anyway. I mean, not that I don't want to it's just… uh… some places are pretty private."

"Oh, I understand," she said, wondering what he actually might have in there. Petunia's books spoke of all manner of enchantments that could be placed upon a room and a vast variety of magical objects they could contact.

"You know, the grounds are really lovely too. I know you didn't get to see that much of them since it was dark when we got back, but we could stroll around those too."

"Sure, we could do that." She washed down the last of the dried toast with her tea.

James broke out into a grin. "Great. I'll clean up the breakfast things and see what I can find for you to wear then!"

She came out of the shower to find a worn pair of jeans and a woman's blouse folded neatly on the bed.

_All I could find. Hope you don't mind some of my pants – thought you might like those better than a skirt and I'm pretty skinny! – James. _

She pulled them on to find they were as soft as they looked. The blouse fit well too and he'd even found a pair of trainers somewhere for her to use. As she combed out her hair, she rehearsed in her mind her story and what she was supposed to do. She and Tabby were just Americans, traveling and having some fun. That was all. She would explore, hopefully get him to trust her, hopefully find out something useful.

"Keep it together," she hissed to her reflection in the vanity mirror.

"Hey, those fit pretty well!" James laughed when she came back into the kitchen. "Alright, so where would you like to start?"

For a moment, she froze. Where _should_ she start? What should she ask to see that might lead her to answers about the wizarding world?

"Could I see the library?"

_OOO_

Petunia slipped out of the house and went to the edge of the river, down to where the trees were crowded closely along the bank. Her spirits lifted as they always did and she was so lost in her brief reverie that it was a moment or two before she realized that somebody was calling her name.

"Petunia!"

"Regulus." She turned to see the boy peering out of the foliage. "I didn't notice you there."

"I came to the right place, right?" He looked around. "Why did you want me to come here?"

"Because the trees provide good cover. And because Lily and Snape are at the house today and so they won't bother us down here."

"Severus…" he murmured.

Petunia wanted to pry, but first they needed to leave – it would not do to linger in the event that her sister and her horrid friend changed their plans and came down here anyway.

"Did you bring your broom?"

"Yes!" He brightened immediately. "It's new! My parents got it for me so that I would have an edge playing Quidditch this year."

"Shall we ride, then?" She smiled.

He handed her an invisibility cloak so that the suburbanites around them would not catch sight of what they were doing.

"Your carriage awaits!"

The feeling of flying did not excite her quite as much as it once had. Her first time up in the air – hanging on to a nervous Lorna as they skimmed over treetops – had been exhilarating. Now, however, it felt little different from riding a bicycle. As Regulus wheeled through the sky, she wondered if that's what magic was like for Lily, something that had seemed wondrous at first but that gradually became quotidian.

They flew for long stretches in silence, Petunia letting herself connect with the countryside that passed beneath them, from the fields of crops to the untouched forests to the neat suburban hedgerows. The nearer they drew to London, the dimmer the sense of green and vitality became. She wished they could go to the gardens again, but she did not want to make him too suspicious of why she loved the place – and did not want to give herself more opportunities to slip up and reveal her abilities in front of him should she lose herself in the moment.

Instead they went the British Museum – Regulus had confessed a curiosity about Muggle culture and though the word made her bristle, Petunia thought it was as good a place to take him as any. They crowded silently past the Rosetta stone with the other tourists, Petunia feeling it was somewhat obligatory, but were able to talk more freely once the crowds thinned out in other areas of the museum.

"Some of them were witches and wizards, you know," he whispered as they walked through displays of sarcophagi and Egyptian jewelry. "They probably cursed the tombs – there may have even been magical objects in some of them."

"Really."

He nodded. "Back then things weren't as divided as they are now. Wizards lived side by side with… with people like you in some places. "

She doubted whether they lived with people like her – though she did wonder if there had been mutants around even back then.

"What happened?"

"Things changed," he murmured. "People grew afraid."

She understood the feeling well – the lingering terror and concern that came with each report of the burgeoning Sentinel project over the seas, the news reports vilifying mutants when they emerged or acted out. They drifted through more of the opulent exhibit and she leaned in to read the placard.

"Sarcophagus of the Queen Nephri." Petunia looked at the painted face and the skeleton next to it. "I wonder if she was beautiful."

"Aren't all queens?" Regulus smiled at her in a teasing way and she suddenly found herself laughing.

Taking his hand, she softly pricked his palm and allowed her scent to waft.

"So you know Severus," she said as they walked onward, making their way towards halls of Roman and Greek statuary.

"He's in my house. But we don't talk much. He doesn't talk much with anybody. And he's talked to them less since... since your sister."

"They don't like her."

"She's a dirty Mudblood," he said in an empty-sounding lilt.

Petunia knew by the sound of the word that she sought to feel somehow offended, for her sister's sake and her own. But somehow the sting was lessened, knowing she was neither of those things – and that wizard barbs would mean little when mutants revealed themselves and denied them the seat of power.

"Is that what you call her?"

"It's what people in my house say."

"Except Severus."

"He said it of others. He used to. He's growing farther away from us." Regulus paused. "Sometimes I worry for him."

"Why's that?"

"It is dangerous to make enemies in our house. His affections have grown more transparent. And with it, he has turned his back on…"

"On?"

"On us. On our house. On our…our liege."

Petunia's eyes grew intense as Regulus' grew more glazed.

"Tell me about him," she whispered.

They halted in front of a display of ivory chessmen. Regulus gaped for a moment or two. He was slow in speaking and Petunia had to lean in to catch what he was saying.

"I'm younger so I mostly hear whispers. They say he's immensely powerful – perhaps the most powerful wizard to ever live. He has researched all manner of things, life and death. Some say he cannot die."

"Can't die?" Petunia murmured – it sounded ridiculous, but in a world where her sister could fly and she could cause thorns to sprout from her hands, she did not want to dismiss any possibilities.

"It's what they say."

"Could he do that? _How_ would he do that?"

"There are ways… maybe…"

His thoughts and words drifted off so Petunia tried to bring him around again.

"Have you met him?"

"Not up close and in person but one day, maybe… maybe… my parents," he breathed.

"Are they Death Eaters?"

He shook his head. "But he stands for our rights. He stands for what we know to be true – the supremacy of blood. The right to have power over ourselves, to not have to hide anymore from Muggles weaker than we are."

"Will you join him? You said before you had been to some of their meetings." Petunia asked carefully. Something felt twisted inside of her – the deeper he got in, the better her information would be, but the more dangerous it became for him as well as her. She doubted that being a spy unintentionally would be any more forgivable, should anybody find out what she'd done. The possibility of him getting caught, of him dying… she pushed her thoughts away.

"I want…I want… my parents." He paused, looked intently at the chessmen. "They were so ashamed of Sirius leaving. He has embarrassed us all. I will show them… I will show them I can get our honor back, make the House of Black a great name again." His head swiveled and his gaze suddenly contained a fire behind it. "I will show my parents that I am the better son, that they need not regret his loss! I will make them proud to claim me!"

"I believe you," she whispered, then reached up to kiss him.

His vision cleared slightly. "I'm sorry, what were we… was I dozing?"

"You did drift off for a bit there. Let's get some tea," she said brightly. "The museum has a café on one of the upper floors and I'm feeling slightly peckish."

For a moment he seemed confused and then he smiled. "Of course! Whatever you would like."


	17. Truth from the Lies

"The library?" James sputtered. "Well… uh… you see… it's… it's boring! You don't want to see something boring."

"But I like books!" Lorna smiled, pressing her advantage.

"These books are really old and dusty though," he protested. "And I think most of them are in Latin and I probably shouldn't even be letting you in there, Sirius' uncle's really fussy about his books… he probably left it locked, in fact, I don't think I could even get in there."

Seeing James squirm as he gave a flurry of excuses, Lorna suddenly felt a pang of guilt. Besides, he told herself, whatever it was she could try and explore later on her own and find out whatever was hiding there.

"Well OK… how about the grounds then?"

"Sure! The grounds!" He clapped. "It's a beautiful day outside and there's a garden and some woods, even some horses. You'll love it – we could even go for a ride if you would like! Have you ever ridden a horse?"

She nodded. "I rode them as a little girl. When I lived with my mother."

"Lived with?" James' eyes flexed in sympathy. "Did something happen to her?"

"Oh, no, no." She blushed and shook her head. "I just lived for her for a while and then I got to know my father and went to live with him. They weren't married and didn't live together, we just thought… Can we go?"

"Sure," he said quickly, clearing away the breakfast things.

She drifted towards the door, listening to the clatter of dishes and thinking back to the day she'd first seen the imposing man with grey-flecked hair on their stoop, telling her he was her father and explaining to her mother why she should come with him. Why it wasn't safe for her there any more, for either of them until she could control her powers. She remembered her mother crying, but helping her to pack, she remembered her excitement at finding someone who could make the kitchenware float like she could, she remembered her bewilderment at the two teenagers he introduced to her as her siblings.

"Ready?" James tapped her on the shoulder.

"Yeah," she said, managing another smile. "Let's go."

They strolled out into the garden first, an English style garden with winding dirt paths and overgrown bushes that spilled over into the walkway. She looked at the dozens of different flowers and thought of Petunia; she could probably name them all, would love it here where she could touch each in turn and then make them flourish all around her.

"It's a big out of hand. I don't think Sirius' uncle spends much time on it and we certainly don't."

"That's alright, I like it a little wild." She reached across to pluck a rose from one of the brushes, careful not to price herself on the thorns. Snapping off the excess stem, she tucked it behind her ear. "What do you think?"

"Just lovely." He grinned and Lorna felt herself flush a little.

"So do you know all of these plants?" She looked out over the sprawling gardens, thinking of the books that Petunia mentioned reading and wondering if any of these plants were magical.

"Not even close," he laughed. "I know some of the really obvious ones, of course, but beyond that, you've got me."

The wound around the garden as the sun climbed further and further into the sky. The heat of the day began to bear down on them, so James led them below a trellis where they stopped in the shade below the twisting vines. Lorna leaned against them, tracing one with her finger and thinking about the feel of vines on her neck. It was almost something she missed, the adrenaline rush of sparring with Petunia, who never held back or hesitated.

"What are you thinking about?" James leaned over.

"What?"

"You looked lost in thought there." His lips quirked upwards. "I was just wondering what was on your mind."

For a moment her thoughts raced, then she broke out into a grin. "Lunch."

He laughed and stood up, offering her his hand. "Alright then. Do you want to dig around the kitchen, see what we have around the house, or do you want to go into town and see what we can find there?"

"Town?" She suggested. "If you'd rather stay here though…"

"Anything for a lady," he said, pulling her along.

_OOO_

Petunia poured them both tea, passing the fragrant liquid to Regulus. The steam curled upwards into his face and she smiled in a satisfied fashion, sipping from her own cup. As the haziness slid over his eyes, she took a finger sandwich and resumed their former conversation.

"Those who follow… him… do they meet? How does he consort with them?"

"Yes," he murmured. "In houses mostly. My cousin talks about their meetings sometimes. She is very… enthusiastic. They must be careful though. They move around. Ward the houses. It would not do for the ministry to find out."

Petunia nodded. "Have they ever been to your house?"

He shook his head. "I think mother would be pleased if they were, but father does not want to assume the risk. He knows that it could mean the loss of his ministry position if anybody were to find out. Though their sway is growing."

"How do they ward the houses?"

"Secret keepers. People cannot find the house unless another member lets them know where it is. Other wards too, that prevent apparating or let the owner know when someone had apparated within the wards."

They reached the dregs of the tea just as they finished the sandwiches and reached the sweeter confections served. Regulus stared down then looked back up.

"Sorry, I think I was drifting again. What were we talking about?"

"You were telling me about your Quidditch exploits last year."

"Oh yeah!" He grinned. "We came so close to winning the Cup and it wasn't my fault Potter got to the snitch before me in the Gryffindor game – he was bigger so it wasn't hard for him to knock me off my broom." Regulus frowned at the memory. "But I've grown a lot this year and I can totally handle him this time around, no problem. We'll win the Cup for sure."

"What if you don't?"

"We will!" He insisted. "I've been practicing loads and if I can do well, then even if the rest of the team is off we'll be fine. All you really need is a good seeker and the game can be over in a few minutes. Not as much fun to watch that way, but I think winning a quick game is a lot more fun than losing a long one."

"Losing's never much fun," Petunia agreed. "Especially when you lose to your rivals."

"Definitely. I mean, I guess I would feel stupid if Hufflepuff beat us or something, but I hate it when Gryffindor wins the most."

"Well, I'm sure you'll win." She smiled. "And even if I can't be there, I'll be cheering for you."

He grinned, youthful and broad. "Then I'll try extra hard so that all your cheering won't have been in vain! And I'll think of you when I win!"

She laughed. "Alright, then. Let's go, Quidditch hero."

They came out of the museum into the crowded London streets. Petunia looked at him cautiously.

"You live in London right?"

He nodded. "Yes, my family has a town house."

"Do you think you could show it to me? Not to go in," she added quickly. "I'd just like to know where it's at, see what it looks like."

Regulus hesitated, but nodded after a pause. "Sure! I can show you."

They wound through several streets until they came to a quieter part of town, with tree-lined streets and tall, stately looking homes all connected.

"Twelve Grimmauld Place," he murmured into her eat.

She gasped as two houses began to shift right before her eyes. Space contorted in front of her and when reality had settled, there was a house there that had not been before. It loomed tall and dark, not very different from its companions on either side. But looking at it, heart racing, Petunia could have sworn it exuded a magical air.

Regulus gave her hand a squeeze.

"Someday… come on. I'll take you home."

She followed him down the street, back to the park where they'd hidden his cloak and broom. But her eyes lingered on the façade as long as possible, until it slid out of sight.

_OOO_

"That was wicked fun," Tabby laughed, kicking off her shoes as soon as they were inside the door. "Hope we didn't annoy those guys, coming home this late." She peeked down the hall, into the kitchen and living room. "Looks like their already asleep."

"You sure you can stay for a few more days?"

"We can do whatever we want," she said, then yawned. "And right now, all I want is some shut eye. We can go to the hostel in the morning and grab our stuff if we wanna hang out here."

"Well I don't mind. You want a separate room tonight? There's enough of them around."

"No need," she grinned, following him up the stairs. "Though I'll probably take a quick shower. I'm all sweaty and gross."

He nodded. "Sure. You know where everything is, right?"

"Yeah," she nodded. "Towels, soap, I'm good."

Sliding into a nightie of light green silk, she flopped into the bed next to him and drifted. The darkness of sleep closed in around her and she enjoyed the warmth of Sirius next to her, the feel of the sheets and the silence of the manse.

"…BAD ENOUGH THAT HE SYMPATHIZES WITH SUCH DEGENERATES BUT TO ALLOW THEM TO BRING FILTH LIKE YOU INTO OUR HOMES…"

She shot upright. "What the hell is that! Who's yelling?"

"Oh hell." Sirius bounded out of bed and started pulling on pants. "It's nothing, go back to sleep!"

"It's not nothing, what the hell is going on!" She ran after him out into the hallway, just in time to see James rush past.

"…DON'T YOU WALK AWAY FROM ME YOUNG LADY, NOT UNTIL I TELL YOU TO…"

"James!" Sirius glared at him. "What the hell!"

"She wanted to see the library earlier," he panted. "I convinced her not to, we went outside instead, but she must have _really_ wanted to see it…"

"I thought you locked it!"

"I thought I did too!"

"What is going on!" Tabby screamed.

"Go back to bed!"

"I'll do no such thing!"

"Shit," James swore. "We're going to have to…"

"Let's not assume anything just yet!"

The turned the corner, into a cast room lined with books. Lorna was standing, dumbfounded, in front of a portrait in a gilded frame. On the canvas itself, a man, in rich, Renaissance era clothing, was shaking a walking stick and screaming at her.

"SHUT UP CYGNUS!" Sirius roared, yanking a velvet curtain over the portrait, muffling the sound.

Lorna looked at James.

"I wanted to see the library and I saw the curtain and was curious…"

James sighed. "Well the cat's out of the bag now." He looked over at Sirius. "We're, uh, not supposed to be letting just anybody in on this but…"

"We're wizards," Sirius finished.

Lorna's wide eyes darted to Tabby, who glared back with her best "you've really messed it up this time" look.

"Is that all?" Tabby snapped. "Because if that's it, I'm going back to bed," she said, before stomping out of the room.

"I… I need some sleep too," Lorna blurted before dashing out after Tabby.

"Damn it," Sirius sighed, flicking his wand at the portrait to silence it further. "What do we do now?"

"I don't know." James shook his head. "I really don't."

_OOO_


	18. Calling Me Back

_OOO_

"I'm so sorry!" Lorna blurted out, shaking as Tabby dragged her into an empty, quiet parlor. "I only wanted to see if there were more books there that might be useful. It was locked, I had to mess with the tumblers, it was a sign, I shouldn't have even… I didn't think anything like that was going to happen, I really didn't." She sucked in a breath. "And now they're going to do something to us or we're going to have to leave, we're going to lose our chance…"

"Calm down." Tabby shook her by the shoulders. "There's nothing we can do about it now. But we can still salvage the situation."

"_How!_" Lorna moaned, raking her fingers through her hair. "They won't want us to know, we should probably leave before they do anything, we should have left already!"

"I said calm down." Tabby stepped back and crossed her arms. "You know about their school, right?"

She nodded. "It was in one of Petunia's books."

"Do you know about any others? Somewhere else, one that they wouldn't be so familiar with?"

"Yeah, I guess. Why?"

Here's the plan," she whispered. "We'll tell them we already know about wizards. Then they'll have no reason to mess with our minds. Just tell them that the shouting scared you and that's why you were startled, but that we already know about magic."

"But we can't tell them about Petunia! That might ruin her mission!"

"We don't tell them it came from Petunia!" She rolled her eyes. "Tell them you have a cousin who's a wizard, went some place in America. They shouldn't know anybody there, so how will they know the difference? Tell them you didn't want to make a big deal of it, that you thought they would tell you when the time was right."

Lorna stilled herself and looked at the carpet. "You really think this will work?"

"Why wouldn't it? And what do we have to lose by trying?" She patted Lorna's shoulder. "Come on, let's go find them."

_OOO_

"So what do we do?" Sirius groaned. "I mean, we could oblivate them…"

"Oh yeah, sure. That sounds like a marvelous idea. And do you know that spell well enough so that we're just erasing the last few hours instead of the last two weeks or the last two years? And there is that little detail about the prohibition of underaged magic – do you even know what the rules in Germany are?"

"Well damn it, James, what else do you want me to suggest! You saw how they ran out of here; they're probably scared out of their wits. Why didn't you lock that door?"

"I swear I did!" He sighed. "Maybe they won't mind."

"Or maybe they'll kick up a fuss and we'll get reported for breaking the statute of secrecy. Not that I _mind_ breaking rules. But this could be a little more than Hogwarts trouble. And you know my parents wouldn't do anything to intervene."

"It wouldn't be that bad. It isn't as though we hurt them." James shook his head. "But it's not going to go anywhere good. Shame, I liked her."

"And I liked Tabby. But maybe it's best…"

A knock at the library door stopped them both.

"Hey."

"Lorna!" James rushed over, eyes downcast. "I'm so sorry about all of this, it must seem so weird to you, but I didn't mean to scare you like that!"

"It's okay, it's… I have a cousin!" She gulped. "Who goes to the Salem Institute. In Massachusettes. So I know. About magic, that is. I just got scared by the noise. I… I know about wizards." She looked up into James' wide eyes, trying to gauge whether or not he believed her. "I mean, you mentioned Gryffindor and you're English, so you go to Hogwarts, right?"

Sirius and James exchanged glances and James started to laugh.

"Yeah, that's right, we go to Hogwarts. But if you knew we were wizards all along, why didn't you _say_ something?"

"Well, I wasn't sure I'd gotten the name right and if I wasn't, I thought you'd think me crazy, suggesting you were wizards." She giggled nervously. "And even if you were, I mean, I figured you'd tell me when the time was right."

"Good as time as any to find out, I suppose, middle of the night when we're all sleeping," Sirius snarked.

"Well I'm just glad that you aren't completely freaked out by this." James laughed. "It's a huge relief to know you're not going to go shouting this about or trying to get us into trouble for it or anything."

"Can we all go back to bed now?" Tabby interrupted impatiently.

"Let's get some sleep," James agreed. He looked sideways towards Lorna in sympathy. "You look exhausted."

"It's been a long, strange night," she sighed, shuffling down the hall.

Tabitha went back to the room she was sharing with Sirius and he turned to her.

"Now that you know we're wizards and all, I thought I should tell you – my motorcycle can fly, you know."

Tabitha grinned. "That's something I'm going to have to see to believe." She closed her eyes but sleep was slow in coming, so she flipped over and looked at Sirius. "You know, now that we know the big secret… just wanted to remind you that we have no fixed plans. If you wanted to hang out with us a little longer."

Sirius smirked. "I can't think of many objections to that course of action."

"Then Lorna and I will leave to get our things from the hostel we were staying at and we'll see where the summer takes us."

_OOO_

Petunia volunteered to clean out the weeds in the flower beds the next day, a task made easier but her abilities – though she felt a small pang with each sprout she caused to wither. It was not their fault they were considered less desirable than the other, prettier plants. They each had a beauty of their own, she thought. If it were up to her…

"Do you need any help?"

Petunia turned to see Lily hovering over her expectantly. She flushed, hoping that Lily had not caught what she was doing – but judging from the chipper smile on her face, she was as unaware as ever.

"I'm fine, thank you." Petunia turned back to the beds and pulled the next few out by hand.

"Sev and I were talking about starting a little garden behind the house." She grinned. "For potions plants. Some of them are quite expensive, you know, but if we could grow our own it would help tremendously."

"Don't you think the neighbors might notice?" Petunia gave a dandelion a violent jerk. "Didn't you tell me once that some of them bite or explode with pus?"

"Well we wouldn't plant any of _those_," Lily giggled. "A lot of potions plants aren't even very magical, just regular plants used in special ways." She touched the petals of a bud on one of the rose bushes. "It would be so lovely."

Petunia bit her lip; if they started such a garden, it would give that loathsome boy a reason to hang around them more often than he already did. He was already over too often for her tastes, nattering away with Lily and casting dark glances in Petunia's direction when Lily was not looking. But it would mean a chance for her to learn more about wizard plants and their uses out in the open, without raising suspicion.

"It sounds like a very nice idea Lily." She stood rose from the flower beds to face her sister. "Would you mind if I helped?"

"Of course not! I'd love it." She looked down at the bushes. "You've done such a lovely job with all of our flowers. And I could explain what they do and the potions Sev and I make! It will be so much _fun_."

Lily beamed at her bright as day and Petunia returned the smile, not as broad though, surprising to herself, sharing in some of its warmth.

The came inside and Lily immediate darted down the hallway.

"Mum! Petunia wants to help with our potions garden idea!"

"Oh that's wonderful dear! It's good for you to get some fresh air; she's always cooped up in her room these days with her books studying. And I cannot wait to see what clever potions you and Severus will be able to concoct!"

Petunia sighed and threw the gardening gloves aside.

It signified little what foul potions her sister could stew. She could tap into the raw power of the vegetation and they would answer to her alone once sprouted. Let her mother praise her sister to the skies for all she cared; her reward would come when she returned to Magneto, victorious in her mission and more skilled with her mutation than ever.

Reminded of her duty but simultaneously tired and sweaty, she showered than sat to write a report to the base. She thought of Mortimer and Lorna, thinking of what their reactions would be when she showed herself able to grow some of the more unusual wizarding plants. Whether they would be useful in combat or not, Lorna would gasp and Morty would gape and then they would laugh and congratulate her. Her pen hovered over the paper motionless for a moment; she missed her friends so badly.

But there were long days ahead. She needed to play her part; her loneliness came second, subordinate to the mission and assuaged by the thought that it was not to be forever. She was not going to always be with the parents who favored her sister or the boy who despised her or the neighbors who thought her a 'bad' daughter because of her running away.

The sooner her mission was completed to Magneto's satisfaction, the sooner she would be able to return. With that in mind, she began to write, telling them in detail of what Regulus had related to her and all that she was learning to do from her books.

_OOO_

"Lorna!" Morty gasped when the doors to the castle opened to reveal her and Tabitha. "It's been over two days, I was so worried!"

"Calm down there, Hopalong." Tabby shoved him out of the way. "We aren't staying. Where's the big guy?"

"Father isn't in at the moment." Wanda's voice descended from the stairwell. "He left for America yesterday to tend to important matters. Our good friend Senator Kelly is testing in the deserts of Arizona and father thought he would pay him a visit, given the secret nature of the event. Kelly will not be happy about the attack – but neither will he want anybody to know what he was doing. But what has happened with the both of you?" She looked to Lorna. "Are you alright? We were beginning to worry."

"We found some wizards. Going to vacation with them for a while." She looked at Pietro who was following in the wake of his sister. "And we're taking the car."

"What!" Pietro crossed his arms. "Like hell! I lent you that for the night, not the whole summer!"

"I am going to need more of an explanation than that." She motioned for the duo to follow her into one of the planning rooms, but Mortimer caught Lorna's hand before she left.

"Lorna." He shook his head. "Not you too! You're leaving, like Petunia? Then what will I do?"

"I'm sorry, Morty," she blushed. "But we happened upon two boys going to Hogwarts. Tabitha thinks… well, if Petunia is supposed to be doing it, wouldn't multiple sources of information be better than one?"

He looked down. "So I'll be stuck here all alone."

"Only for the summer!" She patted his shoulder.

"Lorna." Wanda reappeared at the doorway. "Come."

"I'm sorry!" She murmured, and then went to join her sister.

Morty watched her go and considered following her. But in the end, he bounded up the stairs to seethe in his room for half an hour until Lorna knocked.

"Want to help me pack?"

"Yeah," he sighed after a pause.

"I'm sorry. I didn't want to leave as soon as this. It was a lucky happenstance, but Tabby thought we should take advantage of it and Wanda agrees." She tossed multi-colored shirts into a beaten paisley suitcase. "But however long we stay, they'll have to be back in school by the end of the summer so we'll be back by then at least."

"It's still going to suck." He started taking shirts off of hangers. "First Petunia, now you too?" He frowned. "St. John's only got me to yell at now. And nobody to hang out with."

"I… I guess I could stay." Lorna said, folding and refolding a pair of jeans until Morty took them from her.

"No, you should go," he sighed. "It's important. We have to know what we're facing, for all of us. And it's good to get field experience." He put them into the suitcase and looked up at her desperately. "But be safe!"

She chuckled. "I don't think we're in much danger. Except maybe Tabby from catching something."

"What do you… oh." He blushed a deep scarlet when he caught her meaning.

"Tabby is wild." Lorna shook her head. "But they are good natured. I don't think we are in any serious danger. They will see it as a summer's fun, we'll learn what we can, and it will be done."

"But you aren't… you mentioned a James?"

"What, you mean like Tabby?" She quickly folded a dress. "No. No. I haven't even… and I think father would kill me," she said with a weak laugh. "I'm not like Tabby, you know that." His expression eased slightly. "And neither is Petunia, for I know you worry about her too."

"You can tell?"

"You are like an open book, Morty." She smoothed another dress. "You and I both. We must get better at concealment if we are to play such dangerous games."

He nodded and looked down into the suitcase. "Is that everything?"

"I think so." She checked the drawers. "At least, it's enough for a summer." She pushed everything down with a grunt, and then zipped it up. "So I guess this is it."

"I'll walk you down." He lifted the bag. "Come on."

Tossing the suitcase into the trunk, he waved them goodbye. Pietro ran beside them to the end of the road, but Toad retreated inside before he sped back. He went back into his room, folding in on himself and watching the sun set from his window. He sat there until there was pitch dark all around him and he could see the stars.

He was to remain at the castle but he could not stand still. Stretching out, he promised himself that come the dawn he would redouble his own efforts at training.

_OOO_


	19. How Long Can You Stand the Heat

_OOO_

The days that went by without either Petunia or Lorna to divert Morty passed slowly, each hour dragging by in a mixture of exhaustive training and interminable boredom. The absence of the others had lead St. John to focus on Pietro's training to a much greater extent, which usually resulted in their sessions devolving into an argument. He was not good at countering Pietro when they fought, either – the other mutant's speed simply overwhelmed him and his tongue or twisting grasp found very little purchase.

The afternoons he spent with Dominic were not nearly as frustrating. At least there he was making some manner of progress instead of being made a perpetual fool by a lazy speedster. Within the month he knew the controls as well as Dominic, his flights were steady yet swift, and there were few problems he could not recognize or repair. His success with the jet was one of the few bright spots in his routine.

The final responsibility he was commonly tasked with produced more mixed feelings. With everybody else in the field, as they put it, getting practical experience, he was left to read the small library Petunia had sent and familiarize himself as best he could with wizards, their powers and their ways. He scribbled in the margins of each when he saw a skill that might be countered by a mutation, when he saw details of note or pertinent spells to remember.

The project made him feel of use, each book bringing them all a little closer to truly knowing their enemy. But it also made him afraid – and not simply because of the abilities that books described. Though there was no doubt that wizards could be strong and their abilities fearful, what worried him more was that he finally understood the potent mixture of jealousy, infuriation and longing that drove Petunia.

The wizarding world was seductive, a place of wonder and excitement that the mundane world around them didn't seem to offer. For those who were a part of it, it offered a chance to have powers beyond the ken of most normal human beings. It could make things happen that most considered to be merely dreams. It was an exclusive club which only the fortunate seemed to be able to enter, and nothing to be done if the talent was not inborn. He understood why someone would want so badly to be a part of it.

And he feared losing Petunia to it.

She had connections to that world now, connections beyond her sister. Even if she was not a wizard, ever letter she wrote spoke of sinking deeper into their society. Whether with her sister or that boy she talked about, she went to places that most people would never have access to. She knew what it was to fly, in the air and free without the cold metal shell of a ship surrounding her. Her own powers were even letting her tread lightly around the edges of magic, growing plants that most people didn't even realize existed.

How long, he wondered, until she might decide that theirs was the better share? Until she decided to leave him and their friends for a dark eyed wizard fallen completely under her own sort of spell?

She was not the type to be disloyal, he told himself. She would not abandon their cause and her own kind, even for the delights the wizarding world could offer. He tried to reassure himself that her words were true and that the other boy meant nothing; that even if she would not care for him as he would wish her to, her attentions would not turn to a wizard.

He told himself these things over and over again. But still it gnawed at his heart, made him frantic. He needed to demonstrate that he could be just as strong – that wizards were not everything in this world. And reading through the same books that gave him so much doubt, he found an obscure reference in a book on the elemental aspects of magic that sent him running through the castle to find his trainer.

"St. John!" He pressed the book open and ran through the corridor, bursting into the Australian's room. "St. John, look!"

The red-head glared at him from behind his type writer, yanking out the sheet that was in it and wadding it up. "Going to have to start all over on that one, thanks. What's all the ruckus for?"

"Look," he panted, pointing to a paragraph. "Look, right here."

St. John took from him and his eyes scanned down the page.

_…one of the most difficult metals to deal with may be vibranium, capable of absorbing spells and therefore rendering it magically inert – though there are limits to this absorption which can cause dangerous chain reactions. It also demonstrates many curious qualities when it comes into contact with other metals, namely destabilizing their molecular structure and causing them to break down. Though potentially useful in creating nonreactive tools for use with volatile magic, vibranium is exceedingly rare and its interactions with other elements make it…_

"Don't you see?" Morty grinned, wide and disconcerting as most of his smiles were. "If we could find some, we could make shields or weapons to fight the wizards with! Even ships if we had enough of it!"

"Didn't know that," St. John admitted, closing the book and looking up. "But do you know how rare vibranium is?"

"Really, really rare?" He asked with a wince.

St. John sighed. "There's only two places to get it. Antarctica which, if you're not up on your geography is huge and freezing and we don't know exactly where it is, and Wakanda which, if you're not up on your international politics, is guarded by the Black Panther. And we are _not_ starting a fight with the Wakandans. One front at a time."

"So we can't get _any_ of it at all?" his face fell. "You're sure there are no other sources of it anywhere?"

"None that I know of; but I didn't say that." He flipped the book open again. "An Antarctic expedition would be difficult. But it wouldn't be impossible. If it was just a metal that damaged other metals, it was useful but limited – and didn't do much that some of our powers could not do. But if it can defend against magic, that makes it _much_ more interesting."

"You mean, we could really…"

"I'll ask Magneto about it as soon as I can." He clasped him on the shoulder. "Good work Morty. And get ready to bundle up. If my guess is right, he's not going to want to waste any time."

Morty bounded away through the castle, excitement written on his features. He might finally get to go on a mission! And if they came back with vibranium, he always had ideas for how to use it. One in his room, he dug out draft paper and began to sketch out careful schematics, the pencil racing to keep up with his flurry of ideas.

His sketching was quickly interrupted however. St. John was at the door and this time he was the one looking breathless and flushed.

"What? Did you ask about the vibranium already?" Morty looked up.

"Never mind that for now. It's Petunia. Suit up."

_OOO_

The weeks passed slowly for Petunia as well. Her O-Levels had turned out well, but even her parents' praise for the success had hardly mattered. They had diverted their praise easily enough when Lily's exam results had come in. A family trip to the shore had been born with patience, the chance of getting to see some saltwater plants a thin consolation for the hours Lily insisted on swimming or making sand castles. Their absence had left her unreachable, but even at home information from the castle had been sparse. Morty had said something about Lorna and Tabitha meeting with wizards, but the letter – short and clearly angry, had left her with more questions than answers. She reported when she could, of course, but of late it had feel more like talking to a wall than a long distance conversation.

Even her time with Regulus had started to feel static; he seemed at his limit of knowledge regarding the Death Eaters, limited further by the fact that it was still summer and he was not regularly interacting with many of his school fellows. Besides that, she wasn't sure how much deeper she could dig without arousing the suspicions of Lily or her parents. The quickly approaching school year would offer more opportunities, perhaps, but until that time came the days and weeks seemed to drag.

Seeking refuge in the garden, Petunia stroked the leaves of the hellebore and watch them tremble and stretch. The aconite was flourishing as well, though she knew their yard was not the idea place for such plants. Under her care they all grew regardless, and though she was less than fond of the fact that Snape was more often around, the flowers made her feel more at peace.

It was Snape's voice that broke her out of her reverie.

"…came to see Lily."

"Oh, she's at the library, picking up a book or two for summer reading. But she should be back soon," Mrs. Evans' voice came from inside. "You are welcome to wait here if you like."

"Thank you. I think I will go wait in our garden."

He stepped out onto the porch and Petunia's eyes locked with his.

"Severus," she said coldly.

"Petunia." He regarded her carefully but did not go back inside.

They stood in silence for a few moments, before Petunia could no longer resist needling him.

"Our garden." She sniffed. "That's rather generous. Considering you and Lily rarely do more than come to tear the plants out of the ground when they are grown enough to your liking."

His eyes darted over to her but she refused to meet his gaze. There was magic that could be done even with sight, she knew. It would be foolish to allow her desire for provocation lead her into exposure.

"I never knew you to be so fond of plants." He sneered, just slightly. "I had always thought your favorite things to be trashy romance novels and petty jealousy."

She could, she thought, take him very easily, out here in the garden. His wand was not out, she was in her element, and, most importantly, he would not be expecting an attack. If she surprised him, the fight might be over in a matter of moments. It would be easy to strangle him, easy to plunge thorns into his flesh and drive poison into his veins.

"I like those as much as you like skulking, dark magic and latching on to my sister," she finally replied.

Further conversation was cut short by a flash of red coming down the sidewalk.

"Sev!" She tossed her bike aside and ambled into the yard. "Sorry I was a little bit late at the library. I just couldn't decide what books I wanted. Hi 'Tuney!"

"Lily," Petunia nodded, feigning a smile.

"This garden looks so great!" She gushed. "And I think our potions have been better because of it, don't you Sev?"

"Quality ingredients are always important," he conceded.

"Speaking of which, I have a new one I want to try!"

"You made a potion yourself?"

"Not exactly, I just modified the memory potion you were telling me about. Come on up and have a look at the recipe I drew up!"

He followed her, casting only a final glance back in Petunia's direction. Relieved, she allowed herself to relax and went back to her plants, feeling them soak in the bright summer sunlight. She has not been alone long, however, before another figure on the sidewalk caught her eye.

A man in a wheelchair was coming slowly up the walk with a man in red glasses next to him, conversing softly as they went. Peering out from the shade and brambles of the garden, Petunia's stomach dropped to her feet.

She recognized them. Magneto had been too precise in his descriptions for them to be anybody else.

Unsettled, she walked slowly back inside so as not to draw attention to herself. Once she was in, however, she bolted up to her room. Digging into her closet, she pulled on what she could of her battle outfit, the pieces which would make it look as though she was merely wearing a belted sundress and boots. Her hands flew to her hair, checking to make sure her headband was in place, assuring her whatever protection it could offer.

Finally, she hovered over her desk. Could she handle him? Could she deal with this? Could she, when confronted, continue to hide her true feelings after a summer's long war of attrition that forced her to suppress and swallow them constantly? She closed her eyes, opened the drawer, and pushed the button. There were a few beeps, and then she heard Wanda's voice.

"Oleander? Are you in trouble?"

"Scarlet Witch." She glanced towards her shut door, as if she half feared he might break through. "Professor Xavier is here. I… I…"

"Understood." Wanda cut her off her stammering explanation. "Delay his as long as you can and we will be there as soon as possible."

The line fell silent and Petunia tucked the small device into her outfit's belt. Steadying herself, she walked downstairs. There didn't seem to be anybody around, so she went to the sink in order to give her shaking hands an occupation.

"I'm going to do the dishes!" She called.

"Alright, dear."

Moments later, there came a knock at the door.

_OOO_


	20. Challenge the Mighty Titan

_OOO_

Petunia plunged her hands into the hot, soapy water and only jumped slightly when she heard the knock. Grabbing a sponge, she scrubbed at a plate, heart hammering inside her rib cage.

"Petunia, could you get that?"

"My hands are wet, mum," she replied, working away at a blob of stuck-on food.

"Oh, alright dear." Her mother came down the steps and Petunia could hear the door swing open.

"Hello!"

"Good afternoon Mrs. Evans. I hope we have not disturbed you?"

"Not at all. But may I ask, who are you?" Petunia could hear the curiosity and concern in her mother's voice.

"Please, do not make yourself uneasy. I'm Professor Charles Xavier and this is my colleague Scott Summers. I have come to talk to you about the matter of your daughter."

"My daughter?"

"Yes." His voice dropped. "I'm sure it cannot have escaped your attention that your daughter has exhibited some… unusual talents. It was this that I was hoping to discuss."

Petunia rinsed the next plate quickly, turning the water off so that she could better hear the conversation happening in the hallway.

"Oh." She paused. "Come in, then, and I suppose you can talk to her. Lily!"

Lily? Of course. Petunia's hands tightened around the sponge, squeezing all the water out, but she forced them to move again. Lily. Always Lily. Lily, Lily, _Lily_. Talk to someone talented, talk to Lily. Always first in their family's thoughts, always first in their hearts.

Lily.

"Yes mum?" Lily's voice came from on high, likely from the stairwell.

"There's a man here who wants to speak with you dear." She turned to him. "Would you like to talk in the kitchen?"

"If you choose. Whatever will make you comfortable."

Behind her, Petunia could hear chairs shifting around. She looked out of the window, into the shrubs lining the house. Calm, she told herself, calm before she inadvertently gave herself away in her anger.

"I know what you must be going through." Professor Xavier spoke first. "And I have come to tell you that you are not alone – and to give you an opportunity. You see, I have talents not unlike your own. And I have started a school over in America to train people to use them. I was hoping to offer you a place there."

"A school?" Lily spoke. "I'm sorry, but you're a little late. I already go to a school."

"Really?" There was surprise in his voice. "I did not know that any such institutions had been founded in England."

"We go to Hogwarts," a fourth voice added, and Petunia realized that Severus had come down with her also. He would be present, know her secret, see her slighted… her blood began boiling once more.

"Hogwarts?" His tone now turned to confusion. "I'm sorry. You have mistaken me. I did not come here about a wizard. I came here about a mutant."

"A mutant?" Mrs. Evans spoke.

"Yes, a mutant – someone with altered genetics. They have powers somewhat like a wizard but they are more… focused in their scope. I have telepathy and some telekinetic power. Scott can fire laser blasts with his eyes, kept in check by those glasses. Because of the sometimes dangerous nature of these powers, I've made it my life's mission to use my powers to find others like ourselves and help them to harness their talents for good."

"Well, maybe you made a mistake," Lily suggested. "Maybe when you tried to sense a mutant, you picked up on a wizard instead?"

Of course. If he was not here for Lily, he could not be here for anybody.

He shook his head. "Quite impossible. My device, Cerebro, picks up only on mutant signatures. I am quite certain that there is a young female mutant at this location. The signature was too potent not to be marked."

A silence grew in the room and Petunia felt the weight of several gazes settle upon her. She set aside the last dish with a clatter.

"Petunia?" Her mother said softly.

"Tuney… are you…" She took a breath and turned around slowly, eyes downcast.

"I didn't… I didn't want anybody to know," she whispered at last. It was a type of truth, at least.

"It's alright, child." Professor Xavier smiled at her and she steeled herself against her revulsion at the gesture. "Tell me – what is the nature of your mutation?"

"Petunia, I didn't even… how long has this been going on?" Her mother asked, clearly dumbfounded. "Is this why you ran…"

"A long time," she murmured. "And yes." Then she looked at the telepath, hoping her abbreviated explanations would satisfy. "It's plants. I affect plants."

Lily was looking at her with something akin to amazement and Severus' expression had gone sour, but both seemed shocked into silence.

"Can you show me?" He asked gently.

There was a small vase in the center of the kitchen table with a few wildflowers in it. She looked at them, stretched out her hand, and the withered stems revived while the rest grew.

"It's not very useful, though," she said. "Not for anything but gardening."

He smiled at her again, the small, condescending smile of those certain that they knew more in a given situation. "This is where you are mistaken Petunia. Cerebro does not always give a full picture – if it did, I should never have mistaken you for your sister. But what it can illuminate is the strength of the mutation. When I step into Cerebro to see mutants… it is a bit like looking into the night sky. Some stars are very dim; some burn much brighter.

You burn brightly, Petunia."

There was a flush coming over her that she did not discourage, but she looked away. He only cared about her strength to use it. He did not care for her.

"And you said you have a school? For people like Petunia?" Mrs. Evans asked.

"Yes. I know that a mutation can spur a variety of reactions – some find it frightening, others fun – but all mutations must be tamed. If you do not have a firm grasp over your powers, you could potentially hurt yourself or others. So I have founded a school in New York, the Xavier Institute for Gifted Youngsters, to help with this process."

"A school?" Lily suddenly brightened and smiled, taking Petunia by the hand. "Tuney, you could go to a school! Just like you wanted with Hogwarts!"

She gave her a fleeting smile but her hand remained limp. Lily would have to remind her of her failed letter to Dumbledore, her thwarted desires.

"All the way in New York, though?" Her mother asked doubtfully.

"I know it is a long way. But without training, Petunia could become dangerous. Given the magnitude of her mutation… I could almost promise she will be. And there are other concerns also." He steepled his fingers. "Mutations have only recently begun to emerge in larger numbers. And, as with any new phenomenon, there are some who are frightened. The school offers a change for protection, safety in numbers."

"Safety?" Mrs. Evans paled. "Petunia could be in danger?"

"I do not wish to alarm you," he said, "and the situation in Britain is not so volatile as in other places. But there is discrimination – and worse – that Petunia might eventually have to contend with."

But you will not tell my mother how you send your students to the battlefield, she thought. You will not tell her that you have a cause you would twist your students towards.

What she said, however, was: "Then wouldn't it be better if I pretended as though I wasn't a mutant at all?"

"You may think that. However, without any training, you could lose control of your powers. If that happens, you would be exposed and in potential danger. Even if you wish to remain, for lack of a better word, closeted regarding your abilities, this is much easier to achieve with training."

"The Institute also has many resources that can help in developing ways of managing your powers." The younger man spoke for the first time. "The glasses which keep my optical blasts in check, for example."

Mrs. Evans nodded. 'Why don't you sit dear," she said to Petunia. "Tell us more about your school."

Petunia sat in silence while the Professor spoke of the program. Located in a mansion outside of New York City, it was a boarding school, large enough to accommodate over 500 students. They provided standard education – in the American high school system, of course – along with the physical training. They had classes on ethics, to provide exploration and guidance on the uses of power. And they of course provided physical training.

"We have a state of the art training facility, the Danger Room..." Scott spoke.

"Danger Room?" Mrs. Evans interrupted. "That sounds… forgive me… dangerous."

"It is a training room. Admittedly, it does have its risks as any physical training does. But we monitor it closely at all times to avoid injury," Professor Xavier reassured her. "It is more of a nickname than anything else. We make sure they have fundamentals in the uses of their power down first. And Petunia may set the levels on low, until she feels more comfortable with the system."

He then exchanged a look with the other man. "There is one more thing, however. The training… if Petunia is ever comfortable with it, we do send teams on occasional missions."

"Missions?" Her voice grew distressed again.

"After graduation," he said quickly, "unless circumstances are very pressing."

Petunia almost scoffed; Tabitha hadn't talked to her much, but she knew Catherine Pryde was not old enough to drive and was already a regular on many of their excursions.

"We consider ourselves bound to spread a message that mutants are here for the protection and benefit of society," Professor Xavier went on. "In contrast to those who would use theirs to threaten it. We seek to protect both ourselves and society at large." He again looked at Petunia. "But for those who are content to learn and train, we ask no more. It is all at your discretion."

Petunia swallowed. "This is a lot to think about."

He nodded. "I understand. Here is my card." He passed the slip of paper to her mother. "Talk about it with your family. Consider everything that I have said. And if you would like a place with us, we will welcome you with open arms."

With that, Mrs. Evans showed them out while Severus stared Lily hugged Petunia fiercely. "Just think, Tuney! Doesn't it sound wonderful?"

She stood, numb. Her mind ran back to her mother's first words. Lily. Lily. Ask for Lily. If there was someone talented it had to be Lily. Lily's remarks about the school, the reminders of her denial of entry into Hogwarts, the lies of Professor Xavier that made her seethe as he spoke…

"No wonder our plants were turning out so well! Oh, and I'll bet you could do so many neat things, maybe even the same kinds of things that Sev and I get to do at school!"

And then to see them all enamored of that farce of a school, those idiotic lines about cooperation while concealing the true danger they were in, the oppression they faced.

"It will be strange to be in America- but so exciting too! Haven't you always wanted to see America? And New York! Don't you think…"

No longer having to hide in from of the Professor, Petunia's blood finally boiled over.

"Leave me alone!" She burst.

Suddenly her body felt tight, the force of her power rushing to the surface. For a moment, she trembled.

Then she ran.

_OOO_

"No, not there." Avalanche's hand caught Morty's shoulder as he went to sit in the back. "Shotgun."

"What?" He grew a little pale. "You can't be…"

"We need to go quickly. You know best where we are going, where she lives and where she might be." He slid into the pilot's chair and strapped himself in, motioning for Toad to do the same. "And I want to fly with the best man for the job."

For a moment, the pale was replaced with a blush. The Toad grew serious, buckling himself in and starting up the systems.

Petunia needed help, need _him_. And he wasn't going to let her down. His stomach twitched, but he squashed it, focusing on the task with an enraged precision.

_OOO_

"Petunia!" Lily ran out after her sister, letting the door slam behind her. "Petunia what's the matter!"

"Lily, wait!" Severus ran after her.

Petunia did not turn to acknowledge them. Anger at her sister, her mother, the men who had come to their house, seeking to take her away and indoctrinate her with their false promises of safety and cooperation… She could feel power bursting out of her; on the edges of her vision, she could see green proliferating as she ran past each house.

Her legs carried her without faltering all the way to the edge of the river. Memories from long ago stirred, a thorn nestled in her breast that still pained her.

"Petunia!" Lily caught up with her. "It's OK, I don't…" her voice trailed off as Petunia turned around.

Behind her, flowers wound their way up the wall of trees. Thousands of them opened and closed.

"Look Lily," she mimicked. "Look at what I can do."

"Tuney…"

"Lily!" Severus caught up to them panting. "Lily, come away." He glared at Petunia.

Petunia's vision narrowed. "Snape."

He tugged in Lily's hand, but she seemed rooted. So he dropped her hand to point and glare at Petunia. "I knew there was something wrong, that something that was the matter with you."

"No," she said lowly. "No, everything is finally right."

The contempt in his eyes was palpable and she needed no further urging. She raised her hand and from behind her, vines snaked out and grabbed Severus dragging him away from Lily's side and into the grove.

"Petunia!" Lily screamed.

"Not so clever now are we?" She hissed. "You think I don't see you. Looking at me with that glare of yours." Vines tightened around his neck. "Who's the Muggle now?"

"Tuney, what are you doing!" Lily's voice took on a hysterical pitch.

He looked at her, face reddening. "Who's the freak now?"

Her expression grew furious and she plunged towards him. They fell into the grove, slamming against a tree. Petunia turned, blocking any view of them off with dense vegetation and muting Lily's screams. But when she turned around, Severus had wrenched off many of the vines and worked his wand out, pointing it towards her.

"You liar," he panted. "What you showed to that man, that wasn't… You've known for a long time. You have been practicing."

"I'm the liar?" She regarded him carefully, feeling little fear though the end of a wand might as well have been the barrel of a gun. "Do you tell Lily what you do with your friends? Your Death Eaters associates in training? The ones who would probably like nothing more than to see me dead?"

Surprise momentarily flashed across his face and he opened his mouth as if to protest. Before he could, he heard a rustling behind him and whipped around.

More vines, thorny this time, started to wrap around him, but he cut them away with his wand. Growling, Petunia sprouted a spike from her hand and leaped at him, driving it into his shoulder. He screamed in pain and blood spurted out onto Petunia's white costume. Reflexively his wand fell and Petunia kicked it aside and she used her vines to drag him up and bind him to a tree.

"You think you are so powerful," she hissed into his ear. "So much better than those around you. But you will be on the losing side, you wizards." She laughed as he choked. "And it is those like _me_ who will inherit this earth. _We_ are the future, not your old guard, with its diminishing numbers and silly, ancient ways. Your kind will fall – and I'm happy to make you the first to go."

"A…acc… accio!" He finally managed to cry. He brought his wand up and cut her, but with a yank of the vines, the spell only grazed her cheek. Infuriated, her vines proliferated even more and she realized with a heady rush that she was about to kill him, she was really and truly…

"Petunia!"

Her head whipped around; behind her, Lily had finally cut through the brush with her own wand and was looking, horrified at the sight of her friend bound and bleeding against the hornbeam.

"How could you Petunia, she whispered, and Petunia was lifted off her feet with a blast.

She landed in undergrowth, instinctively made softer; from the floor of the grove she could heart Lily cutting her companion free.

"Come on, Sev, come on…"

Petunia straightened up and turned to face her sister. "I was intending to spare you, at least. But I see that is not to be the case."

Vines reached towards her but Severus sliced them and put himself in between Petunia and her sister.

"Run Lily! I'll hold her off, get help, go find Profess…."

A vine suddenly wrenched the wand away from Severus and it fell at his feet. More vines rushed down from the branches hanging above them dragging him up into the forest canopy. Lily screamed as Severus was torn from her grasp but turned and ran, clutching her wanted. Perturbed at the loss of her prey, Petunia looked down at the wand buried in the leaves on the forest floor. Closing her eyes, she felt for it with her mind, and found it not utterly like other branches which she had coerced into sprouting. Perhaps because its magical core, it almost felt warm, more accepting of her encouragement. It trembled and then took root, thickening and branching off into a full grown tree beneath her. She drew level with the tree which held Severus, fire in her eyes and heart.

Severus tried to move, but the proliferation of vines made it impossible. His skin began to break out as well as bleed and a grin spread widely across Petunia's face.

"Like it?" She laughed. "My own special blend. Poison ivy, thorns, extremely durable – I'm very pleased with it." Another thorn sprouted from her hand. "And since you are so fond of potions, do you know what curare is?" She leaned over the distance between the two trees and dragged the tip of the thorn on the skin of his neck. "Shall I tell you? It is a paralyzing poison, a muscle relaxer that will spread through your body, leaving you first unable to move and then stilling your heart and lungs." She plunged it into him. "The fact that you'll probably shit yourself as you die is simply a bonus."

Something hot burned under her, in a red flash, and she felt herself tumbling to the forest floor. Using more vines, she caught herself, but Severus landed on the ground with a thud.

"Sev!"

Petunia's head swiveled at the voice of her sister. But before she could attack, Petunia felt her limbs being bound. Her body tore away from the tree, tossed by her sister's spell out into the open.

"He needs help…" She heard her sister say and a blue-furred mutant ran past her, into the grove where he lay. But her gaze was fixed on the man before her.

"Petunia." Professor X floated before her, the Summers man next to him. "You are not as inexperienced with your power as you indicated." He frowned. "Who trained you?"

She felt him trying to pry into her mind and fought to block him out as she rose to her feet. "Perhaps I trained myself," she sneered.

"This is no small matter," he said gravely. "Your sister told me you were absent from your home for many months. Where did you go?"

"No business of yours," she hissed. "I do believe I have come to a decision about my future, though. Suffice it to say I will never be a part of that naïve dream of yours, that vision which gives humans leave to hunt and murder us – we who hold the power, the right…"

His eyes widened at the familiarity of her words.

"You have met Erik."

"Magneto!" She screamed, and without warning, vines wrapped around the Professor's chair and threw him from it, leaving him sprawling on the grass. "His name is Magne-AH!"

She suddenly felt the pain of a blast from the man next to the professor, then a renewed, stronger of someone trying to invade her mind. She collapsed and suddenly felt a spike of fear. She was outnumbered, badly, her sister still had her wand, Severus might have been tended to…

Then the mental pressure lifted as quickly as it came and the ground she was against trembled slightly. Could it mean…

There was a great rumble, and the earth began to split. She heard Lily scream and the trees begin to splinter behind her. She stood up and there they were, standing before them like her salvation.

"My good friend Charles." Magneto smiled at the Professor, then descended and opened his arms. He received Petunia as she ran towards him, throwing herself against his armored chest. He stroked her hair and murmured softly into her ear.

"You did well, my child."

"Erik! Cease this at one!" He looked at her with a pity that made Petunia's stomach turn. "She is only a child."

"And yet you were happy to recruit her as well." He smiled down into her face and Petunia beamed. "She is old enough to make her own decisions."

"Petunia!" Toad rushed to her side, looking her over. He touched her cheek, at the spot where Severus' spell had cut, and she recoiled at the sting. "Who did it?"

"Who do you think?" She hissed.

His head swiveled and without another word, he bounded in a single leap into the trees above the clearing. His tongue snapped downwards, in between Lily and the furry mutant, snatching up Severus' body and dragging it into the trees. Something fired near him, a spell from Petunia's sister he realized, but he was already bounding away.

With a plunged, he landed them both in the river. Snape gargled as Toad's tongue wrapped tighter, bubbles of air escaping in a desperate attempt to breath. Hoping to accelerate the process and keep him from getting to the surface, Toad kicked towards the bottom of the river bed. However, the water around him began to rapidly swirl and he was lifted out of it. His hold on Snape loosened as they both went flying and he heard Snape gasp behind him while he tried to twist and right himself in the air.

Throwing his tongue out towards the trees, he pulled himself out of the path of Lily's next shot. He tried to scramble into the branches before she could get off another but he didn't need to. A tree began to topple and she was distracted in her attempt to jump and avoid it.

"Touch him and I'll kill you!" A voice rose into the tree tops and his heart filled – it was Petunia.

She had followed him into the brush only after St. John had engaged the blue mutant, spreading the stench of burnt fur into the air. She had helped with a timely set of vines binding him to the tree, only to see them cut free with an optic blast. At first he had hesitated, but St. John had waved her off.

"Go help Toad!"

And so she did, finding him being tossed about by Lily as he tried to bring down Snape.

"Petunia what are you doing!" Lily screeched. "Sev could have died, lucky I had a bezoar, what you do… ung!" She tumbled out of the way of a lash of thorns that Petunia attempted to whip her with.

"What does it look like I'm doing, dear sister?" She hissed. "Trying to kill an enemy. Get in my way and I will do the same to you."

Lily slumped, eyes wide and disbelieving. "Tuney what's happened to you…"

"DON'T CALL ME THAT!" Her body sprouted thorns all over it and she lunged at her sister to punch her, though she only connected with the tree. Growling in frustration, she rounded on Lily who was trying to get back to the clearing. "I am _not_ your Tuney, I am _not_ your Petunia, I am nothing to you and I never have been… Oleander!" Vines closed off the exit for Lily, then snaked around her wrists and legs. "That is what you may call me now."

Lily twisted and fire burst out of her wand. Petunia threw up a shield of vines, not dry enough to be easily ignited, and they only scorched against the burst of flame. She chase Lily into the clearing, hearing the sounds of a fight in front of and behind her – Toad, she realized, must still be battling Snape, but without his wand or Lily's help, there was not much Snape could do. She broke through the tree line, but a blast of cold air made her turn behind her. Toad was vaulting above her and she looked up.

"One of them froze the river!"

She ran as he jumped to the floor and they saw St. John engaging with the man shooting optic blasts.

"There have someone who can create ice!" She screamed.

On cue, a wall of ice burst out behind her. It loomed over her and Toad, but St. John was on it, melting it into water with a wall of fire as she and Toad ran. Toad barreled into the man shooting the blasts, causing one to go wild. With his tongue, he laved off the glasses and the man pressed his eyes shut. While he staggered blindly, Petunia encased him in vines and nodded appreciatively towards Toad.

"He's out."

They began running towards the other fights happening, Lily trying to assist the Professor and the blue beast, St. John matched against the new mutant, a male whose icy form sparkled in the open sunlight. Oleander grinned as she saw their opponents were outnumbered; however, it faded with the first 'pop' that caused a robed figure to appear in their midst.

She was on top of the first man with her vines before he could even announce himself, but she could already guess, from Regulus and Lily's conversations, who they were – she had rather been expecting them since the start of the battle.

"Aurors!" She yelled at Magneto.

Two more appeared and Wanda shot a hex at one of them while Avalanche caused the ground to rumble beneath and unseat the other. However, more and more popping sounds could be heard and Oleander realized with a sinking feeling in her chest that they would soon be outnumbered. A glance into Magneto's eyes told her that he realized the same.

"Fall back!" He shouted. "We have what we came for!"

They fell back, Petunia leaving Devil's Snare in her wake, hoping that it would slow down their pursuers. The moment they were inside the ship, she collapsed into a chair. Toad looked at her like he wanted to go to her, but St. John pushed him into the cockpit.

"Later," she heard him say as she slumped, letting her exhaustion overtake her and sleep to close in.

_OOO_

"Tuney!" Lily screamed but the vines caught at her feet and she could not follow her sister. The Aurors were using fire to quell the Snare and she fell back, unable to do much more than watch her sister leave. Tears sprung to her eyes and as a hand touched her shoulder, they started to slip down her cheeks.

"Ms. Evans." She heard a familiar voice and turned to find the sparkling blue eyes of Albus Dumbledore looking down at her. "Might I have a word?"

_OOO_

_A/N: I sort of wanted to include XMFC events into this continuity but at this point, it didn't work too well. Just to let you know, though, I might revisit this theme (wizards vs. mutants) using that as the underlying universe_.


	21. So Sad Her Eyes

Later when she asked him, Severus would tell Lily that she cried for nearly half an hour. At the time, however, it felt much longer; to Lily it felt like an eternity of hitching breaths and pouring tears. She brushed away any attempts at medical assistance, saying that Severus needed help instead. And not even Dumbledore's offer of a royal blue handkerchief embroidered with silver stars had made her feel any better.

Immediately after the battle had ended, Dumbledore had transported them to Hogwarts. Lily and Severus had gone to the infirmary to get treatment, as did several of the other mutants who had been with the professor. She didn't know where anybody else was, but Dumbledore came by to tell her that they'd brought her parents as well, that they were waiting in his office.

They wanted to talk. Everybody did. And Lily didn't feel like speaking to anyone about what had just happened, not even to Severus. Talking about the pain, she felt certain, would only make the wound deeper, make Petunia's betrayal all the more real. For just a few hours more, she wanted to block the thoughts out of her mind, rationalize them to herself, let herself feel anything other than the despair and anger she was sure would follow. But the conversation was a necessary one, so when her tears had dried a little and Severus was feeling better, they made their way up to the gargoyle.

"Licorice twist," Severus said, echoing the phrase Dumbledore had given them, and the gargoyle sprang aside. "Are you alright Lily?" He asked with a soft look of concern.

She only shook her head.

When they reached the top of the stairwell, Dumbledore gestured for them to sit. Lily's parents were already in a pair of high backed chairs in front of the desk. Off to the side sat the Professor in his wheelchair.

"I am sure the course of today's events have left you very confused," the elder wizard began.

"I don't… I don't understand. I thought things were getting better." Tears sprang to her eyes again. "I thought she really loved me."

"Petunia has fallen sway to a very dangerous man," the Professor spoke up. "During the absence you told me about, it is clear that a significant portion, if not the entirety, of it was spent in the tutelage of a mutant terrorist known as Magneto."

"Terrorist?" Lily paled.

The Professor glanced at Dumbledore, who nodded.

"I do not wish to alarm you, Lily," Xavier said in a gentle tone. "But you must be aware of the gravity of the situation Petunia has become involved with. Magneto believes, as some wizards do, that there are superior and lesser races. That humans belong to this lesser race and, because of the persecution that some humans have committed against mutants, the entire race must be destroyed in order for mutants to live in peace. He rejects any ideas of cooperation or coexistence." A rueful look crossed his face. "For Magneto, there is only black and white, those who deserve to live and those who do not. And he is willing to commit acts of unimaginable violence to bring his world into being."

"And Petunia agrees with him," Lily said dryly, hearing Severus shift uneasily next to her.

"Petunia… Petunia is at a very vulnerable point in her life," Xavier said carefully. "Developing powers without knowing their exact nature, being isolated from others like her. To someone alone and frightened, Magneto's doctrine can sound very appealing. And of course there is the element of getting to be a part of a group, of being made to feel special." He looked at Dumbledore. "The Headmaster told me of her letter. Of her desires. And from what I gather, that never truly went away."

"She wanted to be a wizard so much," Lily murmured. "But there wasn't anything anybody could do."

"Not quite. There was an emptiness, a longing." He frowned. "And Magneto seems to have filled that absence for her."

"But what can we do about it?" Lily asked, voice cracking. "Is that it? Is she gone forever? Can't you find her?"

He shook his head. "If we knew where Magneto was, matters would be very different. But we do not. If we ever do, though, we will gladly make whatever attempts we can to rescue her."

"But she'll fight," Lily said. "Like today. If you found them, would you…"

Professor X looked rueful. "You faced her today. You know how dangerous she is. We never seek to kill, try to limit harm. But if she fights, if we are left with no other option…"

Lily's throat grew constricted.

"I never thought something like this could happen," Mrs. Evans suddenly cried. "Growing up, Petunia was such a good girl! And when she ran away, we didn't think that… we thought it was simply adolescent acting out. That she had gotten past it."

"I'm sorry Mum," Lily added, the tears starting afresh. "I should have paid more attention. I should have picked up on the fact that something was wrong!"

"This wasn't your fault Lily!" Snape broke in with conviction. "You showed her all the affection you could, but Petunia had to make her own choices!"

"As we all do, Mr. Snape."

The raven-haired boy swiveled to see Dumbledore's bright blue eyes gazing into him and he felt a brief flush.

"But I am afraid there is more," Dumbledore went on.

"More?" Lily croaked.

Again, Xavier and Dumbledore exchanged a look.

"We have reason to believe that Magneto is working, to some extent, with the Death Eaters," Dumbledore sighed.

"What!" Lily gasped and Severus pressed his lips together.

"We do not yet know the extent of the relationship," Xavier added. "But at least one member of their group has been in touch with the werewolves that Voldemort consorts with. And we believe there has been at least one meeting of the two leaders."

"Magneto knows about wizards. And our existence would be reason for concern and caution on his part," Dumbledore went on. "But his sources of information would have necessarily been limited to what they gained from Voldemort…"

"Until now," Severus finished.

"Until now?" Lily looked at her companion. "No. No… no, you don't think…"

"She went to Diagon Alley with us," Severus hissed. "She was always asking questions. She clearly knew how to grow dangerous magical plants in that battle we had."

"You think she was spying," Lily said in a flat, emotionally blank tone.

"It explains much of her behavior. I don't think there is much doubt…"

"I want to go to bed," Lily interrupted. She went to her mother and father, embraced them. "Can I stay in my dorm room for tonight? Just tonight. I don't want to… I need to think."

He father nodded. "Of course, of course. Professor Dumbledore?"

"Professor McGonagall will be in your Common Room Ms. Evans. Your parents may accompany you there if you wish. I assume you will want to spend the night here as well, Mr. Snape?" He asked as the Evans' left.

"I have one more question. How did you know there was a fight so large? There were so many Aurors…" He grew pale. "Are we going to get into trouble for using magic?"

"That is more than one question," Dumbledore said, the edges of his lips curling. "No, you will not get into trouble. As to our response," he said, "that was not entirely a product of the magic you and Ms. Evans were using."

"What do you mean?"

Dumbledore gave him a long, penetrating look and Severus felt the uncomfortable sensation that he was being judged. Dumbledore looked at Professor Xavier as well, who also seemed to be evaluating him. After a long, silent length of time had passed, Dumbledore went to his desk and drew out a piece of parchment, setting it in front of Snape.

"As you know, when magical children are born, a book at Hogwarts automatically records their names. This is true for many magical societies. Whenever a child of magical talent comes into this world, certain wards are made aware of it.

This is a copy of a page from the Durmstrang Institute from around two decades ago."

At the top of the page the word "Wand" had been scrawled. Then what seemed to be an explosion of ink covered and dribbled down the rest of the page.

"Wand." Snape read. "Wand? What does it mean?"

"Our… presumption is that it is incomplete," said Xavier. "I have discussed the matter with Dumbledore and our suspicions are in accord. If they are correct, it means that you and your friend were not the only magic users earlier today."

"It seems to be the start of the name, written as the child was born and then, for lack of a better word, disrupted." Dumbledore looked down at the page. "That it is not the word 'wand' that the quill was writing, but the name Wanda."

Snape fell silent, a heaviness seeping into him. "Anything that could disrupt magic like that…"

"It would have to be very powerful, Mr. Snape. And indeed, the wards that detected your spells and Ms. Evan's were lit up not long after with a wave of power stronger and more out of control than any I have seen in many years." A distant look crept into his eyes and Snape's nausea grew.

"Uncontrolled magic? Are you saying that one of those people fighting us was a wizard?"

"Not a wizard per se, but someone in possession of the same kind of magic. Only raw, untrained, and mixed with a mutation." Professor X drew closer. "Wanda Maximoff, the Scarlet Witch, is Magneto's daughter. She is an excessively dangerous mutant. We believe she is one of the few influences that causes Voldemort to take Magneto seriously." He paused. "You understand how very serious and sensitive this information is, Mr. Snape?"

Dumbledore looked at him gravely. "If Lily is involved due to her sister, you both must be aware of the risks. Share with her what is necessary. But keep in mind that any information in a situation as delicate as the one we are all in can become dangerous. Do you understand my meaning?"

A curt nod, and then he stood. "I want to see Lily now."

"Then you are excused."

After he left, Xavier looked at Dumbledore.

"You are sure we may trust him?"

"Are you?" Dumbledore asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I have been a poor judge of character in the past," Xavier whispered. "Blind."

"As have I." He paused. "But Mr. Snape's attachment to Ms. Evans has grown due to the loss of her sister."

"Emotional attachment can be cast aside, a casualty in the quest for power and influence. Even very deep emotional attachment."

Dumbledore looked at the man with pity.

"Charles. Our mistakes have been of a similar nature. But we have both learned something from them." He placed a reassuring hand on the other man's shoulder. "And dangerous though he may be, there is some difference between seeking safety through violent means and being purely power mad. Our opponents are both dangerous. But some are more dangerous than others. Erik is not Gellert; and he is not Tom."

"I doubt their victims see the difference. But your point is taken." He wheeled himself over to the fire and sighed. "Such a delicate balance that must be struck. Sometimes it is difficult to hope."

"Have faith," Albus said. "It seems hard, but one must. In people like Lily and Severus. And even in people like Petunia."

OOO

Petunia woke up and found herself in her bed, Toad sitting on the footboard.

"Feeling better?"

"How did I get here?" She sat up and looked around.

"You were still sleeping when the plane landed so I carried you in." He blushed. "I hope you don't think it was inappropriate."

She smiled. "No. Thank you. I needed the rest."

He returned her smile with his normal, too-wide, disconcerting grin. It was the best smile Petunia thought she'd seen in a long, long time.

"Did everybody else make it back alright?" She asked, getting out of the bed and picking out clothes to change into.

"Yeah, a couple scrapes here and there but mostly we got off easy. Thanks to you."

"Thanks to me," she scoffed. "I caused the problem to begin with." She shook her head. "I should have handled the situation myself."

"Well… well I'm just glad you're back. Whatever the reason."

She stopped going through shirts and gave him a smile, bright and fresh as the flowers she made bloom.

"Me too, Morty. Me too."

_OOO_


	22. Learned My Passion

_OOO_

The first day back, Petunia did not do much more than rest. The injuries of the battle were minor, at least on the surface. But she was nearly afraid to go and confront the rest of the Brotherhood, despite all of Morty's assurances that asking for help had not been any trouble and that nobody thought the less of her for calling for backup.

Her trepidation extended beyond her nervousness about the reaction of her teammates, however. There was also the simple shock of realizing that this was her home now, her ties to her past forcefully and painfully severed. She wondered what her parents would think, heart hurting momentarily before she thought of them comforted that they had Lily. They had the one they'd wanted all along. Any pain, she told herself, would come down to their guilt or embarrassment.

Nevertheless, it felt strange, like being unmoored and drifting into a vast and darkened ocean. She knew that was Magneto was doing was vital. But though he was powerful, there were no assurances about how his efforts would turn out. She had thrown her lot in with him but did not know whether it would be for better or for worse. All she knew for certain was that it would be a far cry from the mundane suburban existence that surely would have awaited her had she forever remained back home, following quietly in her sister's shadow.

All of these thoughts weighing on her, it wasn't until the second day that she came into the exercise room where Pyro was running drills with Toad.

"Feeling better, sheila?" Pyro asked conversationally, spotting the younger man as he lifted weights.

She shrugged and stretched. "I suppose. I still can hardly believe… it still feels like a dream. Like back when I first came here except so much more. It's realer now. Permanent. You know?"

"Not exactly," he conceded. "Didn't have much family and I was an adult when I joined up." He helped Morty off of the bench. "But I do see what you're saying."

"I'm a little afraid too," she admitted with a sigh, pausing at the balance beam.

"Afraid of what? Don't be afraid. We're here. We wouldn't let anything hurt you."

She gave Toad a smile, but it was darkened with worry. "I know you would try your hardest. You proved that to me two days ago. But even if we are strong, so are our enemies." She looked away. "And who can say how everything will turn out?"

"I know you're going through a lot." St. John patted her shoulder. "But sometimes you have to let tomorrow take care of itself." Backing away, he gestured towards the beam. "Run through a few exercises. Clear your head."

She nodded and launched into a series of exercises. For a few moments, Morty's eyes followed her every move, until he became cognizant of St. John's eyes fixed upon him. Flushed, he went over to the horse and resumed his own workout, only getting to steal glances at Petunia's form. There were stumbles, a roughness around her edges that made it clear she was somewhat out of practice. But the grace of her form as she tumbled and flipped could never be taken away.

When they were all three exhausted and sipping water against the wall, Morty ventured further conversation.

"So I didn't get to tell you yet, but I figured out something while you were gone. Something we could use in our fight," he started, with a hint of pride in his voice.

"Oh?" She looked towards him with the genuine interest that always made him feel so much taller than his squat, misshapen frame. "What's that?"

"There's a metal, a really rare one that can absorb magic. We're going down to Antarctica to see if we can find a cache." He traced a stone on the floor with his finger. "Think you'll be up to coming with us?"

Pyro frowned. "I think she might still be tired, Morty. We leave tomorrow after all; that's not much time. Besides, in a cold climate like that, her powers will be of limited use."

"I wouldn't mind it, actually," she said, and for a moment Morty looked hopeful. "However, I've got matters to take care of here."

Morty's expression crumpled. "But I thought your mission was over?"

She took a long drink and brushed her sweaty locks back. "That mission. But I'm still in contact with a wizard. I doubt he will have heard about what happened – the purebloods aren't very up on that and even if Snape hates me, I'm guessing that Lily and my family will do everything they can to keep the whole incident private. All Regulus has to know is that I had a fight with my family and I left home." She took another drink. "So I'm going to ask Magneto if I might continue to remain in contact with him, see where it takes me."

Morty's throat felt closed, his chest as constricted as if the Blob were sitting on top of it. But then she turned to him again with a smile in her eyes.

"But you'll tell me how everything goes when you get back, right? You must be excited, seeing your work come together like this. It's a really good job."

"Thanks," he murmured.

Before he was able to answer further, she stood and stretched. "I'm still a little tired. I think I'm going to shower and take a nap before dinner."

Once she was out the door, Pyro turned to Morty; but he turned sharply away.

"I know what you're going to say. Don't even bother with the lecture." He started punching a heavy bag with sharp, swift blows. "I know. I'm not at her level power-wise or… or in any way." He punched harder. "Don't expect too much. Be happy with what you have. She's only a friend." The words dripped with the venom of his tongue.

"I've told you this before Morty, I simply don't want you hurt." He pressed his lips together thoughtfully, used a hand on the other's shoulder to draw him away from the bag. "But you have come a long way. Maybe I've underestimated you. Petunia is right – what you figured out was good work. And if we manage to get the vibranium, it could be a big step forward for us. More than that, I've seen how hard you've been working with Dominic. And you battled fiercely against that wizard back then."

Morty looked at him carefully. "You mean… you think…"

"I think that my warnings were, perhaps, premature," he said thoughtfully. "You have been working hard at improving your skills – we've all seen it. This Antarctic expedition promises to be a real breakthrough for us. And you were responsible for it. You powers might not be as strong as the others around you, at least not inherently, but you have taken up other roles and your skill in them grows."

Morty's expression perked up and Pyro held up a hand.

"Now don't run away with this. I'm not telling you to dash upstairs right now and ask her out on a date. But you two are close and I think… well, who knows? I don't know what her feelings are fully, or what they'll be in the future. All I'm saying is, you're a good kid. And you shouldn't give up hope just yet."

He blushed. "Thanks St. John."

"You can thank me if anything actually _comes_ of all this teenage malarkey." St. John's exasperation returned. "Besides, I know it doesn't make a damn bit of difference what I say to you, you're going to keep mooning over her any chance you get. For now though, help Avalanche double check the jet to make sure that all the equipment is functioning and we're not going to ice over. And make sure there are spares of all the cold weather outfits."

Toad rolled his eyes but bounded away to comply.

_OOO_

Severus stared at the ceiling of the hospital wing, his attempts to find a comfortable position on the bed long abandoned. He had tried to comfort Lily as well as he could, but soon realized that she wanted solitude and sleep more than anything else. He'd first thought he would head to his own dormitory, but had been met in the halls by Madame Pomfrey and forced back to the hospital wing, on the grounds that she needed to observe him to make sure there were no lingering effects of the various poisons and injuries he'd been subjected to.

Poisons. His hand drifted upwards to the wound on his neck. The mediwitch had given him draughts to help with the pain and accelerate the healing, but it still ached ever so slightly. He had thought many things of Lily Evans' sister – a nasty piece of work, a shining example of why muggles and wizards would never truly get along – but never before had he seen her to be a threat of such a magnitude.

And then there was the other one. Underneath the fresh robe he'd been given, other wounds rankled. The places where the other boy's grotesque tongue had lathed burned with acid and his own, albeit less potent, poisons. A twinge of pain caused Severus to hiss.

In the furor of the battle, he hadn't picked up on his name. But he knew the mop-haired boy – knew him as surely as if he had looked into a mirror. The single-minded focus on harming him, the rage that smoldered in his eyes, the venom that had been in his words, hissing into his ear that he would die for daring to harm her. As incredible as it was to Severus, he recognized devotion when he saw it. A deep and murderous devotion that made the other a fearsome opponent. His powers might not have been equal to Petunia's, but he was no less a threat.

The entire situation might have very nearly been laughable, the idea of prim and proper Petunia attracting such an admirer, but thoughts of how close his brush with death had been drained the humor out of the situation. They had been prepared to kill him and Lily; his stomach twisted at the thoughts of what would have happened if they succeeded. Lily spiked through with her sister's thorns, Lily falling as poison coursed through her veins, Lily drowned by that beast of a boy… his teeth clenched and his nails dug into the already ragged flesh of his sides.

But people in the wizarding world were beginning to disappear too. And though few spoke of it, everybody knew why. The school offered them refuge, but he wondered how long it could last. They were being set upon from all sides and Lily, Lily was beginning to be in danger now more than ever. Those he knew so well, Mulciber and Avery and Nott – he realized with a sickening feeling that they would not draw a line. His delusions of being able to protect her in the belly of the beast were fully crumbled. Already his house had begun to turn on him because of his devotion to Lily in her distress; if they heard of this, they would sour completely.

He understood the draw, the allure of what the Death Eaters said, the rush of power even as there was a sense of nagging cruelty. Though he bristled at the similarity, Petunia evidently understood such an allure as well.

"…_it is those like me who will inherit this earth…" _

The vicious gleam in her eye, her desire for domination was something he was all too familiar with.

The mutants she was with wanted power. They would kill for it. Kill Lily. Kill the only brightness, the only kindness he'd ever been shown. And those whom he had been casting his lot with, whom he had been following in his desperation to become more and to be something, to be somebody – they were just the same. They could easily do the same to Lily.

Beset by drawn knives on all sides, there was no way to feel safe, no position to take not fraught with inevitable danger. He did not fully trust Dumbledore; he did not know what would happen if he turned his back upon his house, upon the people with whom he had so carefully cultivated relationships for so long; he did not fully understand the idea of mutants, the third party that had so suddenly intruded upon the growing wizarding conflict.

All he knew was that he would not let Petunia be the only Evans sister defended with such fervent devotion. Lily deserved better than that, even if his self was all he had to offer.

_OOO_


	23. Valentino Just for You

_OOO_

"Master has been getting his clothes pressed very often," Kreacher observed as he slipped into Regulus' room with a stack of freshly cleaned laundry. His bulging eyes looked up inquisitively at the teenage. "Is there something master is not telling to Kreacher?"

Regulus quirked an eyebrow. "Come on now Kreacher. I've got to have _some_ secrets." He sighed. "Not that anybody but you would ever ask."

"Kreacher is thinking… forgives me, master," he bowed. "Has master met a lady?"

Without even looking at himself, Regulus knew his ears had turned pink. "Well maybe."

The house elf's hands clasped. "So good to hear! Kreacher was so worried, as mistress is, that the family line might perish, fall into disgrace…"

"Kreacher!" Regulus interrupted, blush growing deeper. He took a shirt off the pile and tugged it on. "Even if I have met somebody I'm not that old yet." He carefully matched up the buttons. "Not that I _have_ met someone. Hypothetically speaking."

Kreacher looked at him suspiciously and while he was busy getting ready, Regulus started noticing small effects appearing, ones that hadn't been in his room before – a set of mother of pearl cufflinks, a bottle of expensive cologne that, though pricey, his father never used, a silk necktie of deep emerald green. He worried a little that he was so easily being read; though he felt a strong pull towards her, he knew that Petunia was the kind of girl his mother would never tolerate and that he would catch more hell than his brother if his family found out. Luckily, he thought with some measure of bitterness, they would probably never notice unless he dragged her up the steps of Grimmauld Place and tried to introduce her at dinner. Only Kreacher noticed; only Kreacher ever did.

He readied himself as usual but, at the last moment, splashed on some of the cologne, letting Kreacher think what he might. It had an earthy, woodsy scent and as he breathed it in, Regulus flattered himself that it might go well with the light florals that always seemed to waft around Petunia. Satisfied that he was ready, he slipped out of the house and into the crowded London streets.

Petunia was in the park, right where her letter had said she would be. He approached her slowly at first – the letter had been terse and, quite unlike her, written in an unsteady hand. She'd informed him that they needed to talk and it didn't take much to figure out that something was wrong. As he drew close, however, her face brightened and he breathed a sigh of relief. Perhaps whatever news she had wasn't quite so dreadful.

"Hi Petunia," he grinned.

She smiled her greeting and gave him a little wave. "Is there somewhere we could talk in private?"

"My type of place or yours?" He asked, hoping for the latter – he knew how mesmerizing Diagon Alley was to her, but he hated having to look over his shoulder, constantly hoping that nobody dangerous had seen them.

"Mine, I think," she said and he felt a rush of relief.

They found a tea shop and she ordered them a pot and a plate of pastries. When the food came, she only picked at it, however.

"Is something wrong?" He asked over his cup of tea. "Your letter made it seem like something was wrong," he finished lamely, wishing his words had a touch more sophistication to them.

"I left home," she said finally, after picking a scone apart into crumbs. "I suppose you heard from Snape?" Her eyes shown with nervousness and he felt taken aback.

"Snape? No. I don't know him that well." He sipped his tea. "Why would he be telling me anything?"

Her shouldered eased. "He was there for our… argument." She stirred sugar into her own tea. "Thought he might have… well, it's not important." She shook her head, making her blond hair fall about her face. "I've quarreled with my family and I've… I've left home. For good this time."

He felt a rush of concern; his brother had left home too but he couldn't imagine any similarity in their circumstances beyond that and he felt sympathy for Petunia, being all on her own.

"But where will you go? What will you do!"

She shrugged. "I'm old enough to get a job. Suppose I'll do that. Never really fancied college anyway and I definitely don't have the money for it now."

"You should live in London!" He blurted out, the idea presenting itself and escaping his lips before he could stop it.

She looked at him with interest. As she didn't immediately reject his idea, he pressed on.

"Well… well, you seem to enjoy it here so much. And I'll bet there's lot of places you could find a job. And if you were in London, well, we could see each other more often," he finished in a mumble.

He suddenly found the inside of his teacup extremely engrossing; it wasn't until Petunia laughed a little that that he lifted his eyes to gauge her reaction. At first he was afraid she was laughing at the idea, but her expression was all enthusiasm and cheerfulness.

"That's actually not a bad idea, Reggie. If I were in London…" Her gaze drifted out into the streets. "I'll definitely think about it."

"But you'll be alright in the meanwhile?" He asked urgently. He felt almost silly – she was several years older than he was and, he couldn't help feeling, loads more mature. If she couldn't take care of herself, there was precious little he could do to help. He was too afraid to even let his family know about her and he was under the age of majority to boot. What on earth could he do? But he dearly wished he could aid in some way.

"I'll be fine," she reassured him. "But I don't want to dwell on it too much. Would you care for a walk in the park?"

Being near her, on a rare sunny day amid the full summer beauty of Kensington, Regulus felt heady and distracted. He made it back home feeling as though he were floating, barely remembering what had passed between them save that it was golden and lovely. She made him feel as if he were the only boy in the world, something he'd never felt with Sirius or the Slytherins – more handsome, more clever, more talented, more shrewd – always surrounding him.

Undoing his tie and loosening his collar, he settled on to his bed to do some of his summer reading. But there was a pop at his side and suddenly long, bony fingers were digging into his arm.

"Krecher?" He sat up, nearly upsetting the elf onto the floor. "Don't startle me like that! "

Kreacher's expression was furious and Regulus' heart sank.

"Did not think…" the elf growled. "Thought you had better sense than your brother, young Master, to go disgracing the family!"

"You followed me," Regulus hissed, his feeling changing from dread to rage. His anger dimmed momentarily, however, when the house elf's eyes grew softer.

"Only wanted to be sure young master was alright." Then his eyes bulged again. "Did not think you would fall pretty to a Muggle!" He moaned. "Worse than mudblood even! Have you lost all sense of dignity, of shame, of..."

"Shut up!" He seethed, trying to keep his voice low. "Have you said anything to anybody about this? Tell me the truth." The elf's lips pressed together in an impossibly thin line and he shook his head once. "Well don't, alright?" Regulus begged, and then drew himself up straight. "And that's an order!"

Kreacher's brow furrowed at him and for a second Regulus thought the little elf might actually disobey. But he could not, even if he had wanted to. And it was clear that he did.

"Yes master," he croaked.

"Please don't Kreacher." Regulus' voice dropped to a softer, more pleading tone. "I know she's as far from being pureblooded as it gets but she's not… she treats me like I'm important. Like you do."

"Master is important, very important."

"Only because Sirius is such a screw-up," he sighed. "And if he ever decided to stop being such a stupid Gryff, I'm sure mother would be happy to push me right back to the side again." He scoffed. "The only time mother speaks well of me is when she's trying to make Sirius feel shabby by comparison, not that he even cares."

Kreacher touched his arm. "Master. Many young masters like you… such a feeling comes and it goes master. Must think of larger matters."

"Not this," he said, assured with all the impertinence of youth. "I love her."

The house elf gave him a skeptical glare, but did not say anything. He hung up the tie and neatened the dresser before turning to him one last time.

"Will keep my silence, young master. Even to mistress and old master."

"Thank you Kreacher," he whispered, giving the elf a small smile.

Kreacher only frowned in response and popped away, leaving Regulus to his disoriented thoughts.

_OOO_

"So today's the day we go to that kooky wizard shopping center?" Tabby flopped out of the guest bed and stretched.

"Diagon Alley! You're going to love it!" Sirius laughed.

"I dunno," she yawned and stumbled into the bathroom to smear some toothpaste on a brush. "The way you've been talking about it, I'm not sure anything could live up to that," she said through a mouthful of minty foam.

"Maybe not, but it _is_ pretty cool." Sirius leaned against the doorway. "Not as cool as my motorbike, but cool all the same," he grinned.

Tabitha smirked back at him and, mouth still brimming with toothpaste, gave him a sudden kiss that caused him to sputter and laugh. Spitting out the foam, he playfully wrestled her into the shower and turned the water on, causing her to shriek. With a tug, he landed in the tub and Tabby burst out of the room and down the stairs.

"What's all that racket?" James, sitting down at the table with Lorna, looked up from his breakfast as a damp Tabitha ran into the room, followed on her heels by a dripping wet Sirius.

"Nothing!" Tabby laughed, rounding the table to try and shake Sirius off. Sirius slid in an attempt the change directions but ended up slipping and falling. Tabitha bounded over him into another room and Sirius picked himself up and quickly gave chase. Seconds later a resounding crash caused James and Lorna to wince for a moment, but then they started to laugh themselves.

"They are so crazy," Lorna gasped. "And so alike."

"I know, right?" James shook his head.

"So tell me again, what Diagon Alley is like," said Lorna. She was beginning to understand, with each description and repetition, the longing and jealousy Petunia had felt at the prospect of her sister being a part of such a world and her being forever alienated from it.

"They're got every kind of shop you can imagine – ones for robes and potions and cauldrons and books, all on magic of course. There are cafes and an ice cream shop which serves the oddest flavors, a stop we'll definitely be making at some point during the day. A Quidditch supply shop, a personal favorite of mine. There's a Goblin bank that's opulent and absolutely enormous. Wizards and witches all over the place too."

"You might even get to see some of our school chums," Sirius said, breathing heavily as he reentered with Tabitha right behind him. "Wouldn't it be a laugh if we ran into Lily?"

"Hilarious," James rolled his eyes.

"Lily?" Lorna asked.

"Girl he's been stuck on, Lily Evans," Sirius explained as he poured himself a cup of tea. "For _years_. Turned him down flat every chance she got and had a run at him too, but he still kept trying. Never thought I'd meet anybody who could get her out of his head."

_Lily Evans. _

Lorna's grip on her fork tightened just a little. "She doesn't like you?" She finally managed to say to James while poking at the sausage on her plate.

"Thinks I'm bigheaded." He smirked. "No idea where she'd get an idea like that."

"And he likes to hex Snivellus," Sirius added. "Greasy friend of hers, way into the dark arts, and a bad piece of work if I ever saw one. But she sticks up for him for some reason and gives James grief over every harmless little prank."

"Harmless?" Tabitha's eyebrow quirked. "I don't think anything the two of you get up to could ever be called harmless."

"Well, maybe not _entirely_ harmless," James admitted. "Still, he gives as good as he gets."

"Been telling James for ages to give up on her." He tousled Lorna's hair. "And now it turns out the grass really was greener."

Lorna couldn't help smiling at that and managed to dig into her food again, spearing a mushroom with her fork. "If she's rejected you so much, why did you still keep after her?"

"Careful mate," Sirius winked. "Might not want to give a wrong answer here."

"She's pretty and clever and… well, other than pretty and clever, what else is there?" He shrugged. "And she plays hard to get."

"In other words, James like to give himself grief," Sirius said through a mouthful of toast. "Ignoring lovely girls just throwing themselves at his feet trying to get the one who doesn't."

"Hey Siri, think you could shut up about James' love life for a moment and let me know if we've got time for a ride before we head off to Diagon Alley?" Tabby broke in.

"Don't see why not," he shrugged, gulped down the rest of his tea, and went to grab his jacket. "Can we trust you two?"

"Just get out of here," James laughed, jerking his head towards the door.

When they'd gone, Lorna set her fork down.

"So what _is_ it that you see in me?"

"What?" James froze halfway through a bite of tomato.

"All those things you saw in Lily… I'm not very clever. And I didn't play hard to get, exactly." She looked up. "Is it just that you think I'm pretty? Is that all?"

James finished chewing and set his own fork down.

"First off, I wouldn't say you aren't clever or bright. I mean, you fixed Sirius' bike when none of us could."

She scoffed. "I kicked it and got lucky," she said, omitting her surreptitious sliding of gears back into place.

"You're inquisitive. You have a beautiful laugh." She looked at him skeptically and he chuckled. "I'm sounding rather generic, aren't I?"

"A little."

"I don't know what it is really. There's just… there's something about your eyes. Like you want to have an adventure but you're holding back just a little. And if you'd let yourself go, you could do just about anything."

For a frightening moment, Lorna wondered if he knew, but told herself over and over that was impossible.

"And that's what you've been doing, haven't you? Even if you do spend quite a bit of time in that library, you've gone riding winged horses, gone for a turn on Siri's bike, explored all over the place with us, swum with squids… and haven't you enjoyed it?"

She nodded quickly.

"It's like your opening up right in front of me. I held out my hand and pulled you forward for that first step and now – who knows?"

Lorna laughed. "You make spending a summer in a German mansion sound very exciting."

"Tell me you aren't excited and I'll take it all back," James promised. Her smile broadened and his did the same. "Now let's clean up before those two get back. I can't wait to show you more of our world. You said you never been to a place like Diagon? Not even with your cousin?"

"We weren't really close," Lorna said, wincing just a little at the lie. "I knew she was a witch and pieces here and there from chatting at reunions, but not a whole lot else. And I've never been anywhere as magical as the place you're describing."

"Shame," James sighed, letting the charmed sink scrub the dishes itself. "I'd have liked to have known what wizards in America were like. I hear they're even crazier than me and Sirius."

"Well, I wouldn't call you crazy," Lorna protested. "High spirited, maybe."

"A lovely euphemism," he said in a teasing tone.

"And I hope you're having fun with me. Even if I'm not that Lily girl," she said, silently finding it ironic that she should be held up just as Petunia had.

"Loads of fun." He wiped his hands on a dishrag. "And Lorna? Don't think too much about Lily." He came over, set a hand on her shoulder and leaned it, brushing his lips against hers while she stood frozen. "Because whatever Sirius might have you believe, I don't."

_OOO_


End file.
